West Hollywood, Silver Lake & DTLA Gain Better Access to LGBTQ+ Affirmative Therapy as Trevor Project Reports 45% of Youth Considered Suicide
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA, UNITED STATES, January 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — One week after launching specialized depression treatment services, Angeles Psychology Group today announced a major expansion of LGBTQIA+ mental health services targeting West Hollywood, Silver Lake, and Downtown Los Angeles, the three communities comprising LA’s historic “gayborhoods” and representing the highest concentration of LGBTQ+ residents in California. The expansion responds to alarming new data from The Trevor Project showing 45% of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered suicide in the past year, with rates climbing amid an increasingly hostile political climate.
The announcement comes as LGBTQ+ mental health has emerged as a critical public health crisis. Research from the Williams Institute at UCLA shows LGBTQ+ adults are more than twice as likely as heterosexual adults to experience mental health conditions, with transgender and nonbinary individuals facing even higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. These disparities intensify within communities of color, where intersecting marginalization compounds already-existing mental health challenges.
Angeles Psychology Group’s comprehensive LGBTQIA+ therapy program (https://angelespsychologygroup.com/lgbtqia-therapy/) integrates specialized therapeutic modalities with deep cultural competency from clinicians with lived experience in queer communities. The practice (https://angelespsychologygroup.com) offers affirmative individual and couple/relationship therapy as well as specialized group therapy, including the Gay Men’s Therapy Group, one of the few ongoing process groups for gay men in Los Angeles.
Political Climate Intensifies Mental Health Crisis
“We’re seeing the mental health impacts of the current political moment in real time,” explains Neil Schierholz PsyD, founder of Angeles Psychology Group. “Between January 2023 and December 2025, over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures nationwide, with many targeting transgender youth and limiting discussion of LGBTQ+ topics. This legislative assault has profound psychological consequences. Our patients are reporting increased anxiety, hypervigilance, body dysmorphia, and retraumatization of earlier experiences of rejection and discrimination.”
Research supports these clinical observations. A 2024 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics found that states enacting anti-transgender legislation saw 72% increases in suicide attempts among transgender adolescents in the year following enactment. The Trevor Project’s 2025 research indicates that LGBTQ+ youth who live in communities with high levels of acceptance report significantly lower rates of suicide attempts, underscoring the critical role of culturally-competent, affirming environments and mental health services.
Strategic Focus on Historic Gayborhoods
The practice’s expansion specifically targets the three communities forming the heart of LA’s LGBTQ+ culture, each with distinct characteristics and mental health needs:
West Hollywood: With over 40% of residents identifying as LGBTQ+, the highest concentration of any city in America, West Hollywood has served as the epicenter of gay Los Angeles since the 1970s. The city became the first majority-gay municipality when it incorporated in 1984 and continues leading on progressive LGBTQ+ policy. However, West Hollywood also faces challenges including rising housing costs displacing long-term queer residents, substance use concerns, and the continuing mental health impacts of HIV/AIDS on the community. Angeles Psychology Group’s services address these complex intersections of identity, community trauma, and contemporary stressors.
Silver Lake: Often called LA’s “new gay mecca,” Silver Lake attracts a more alternative, artsy, and youthful LGBTQ+ population. The neighborhood has deep queer history. The Mattachine Society, considered America’s first gay rights organization, was founded here in 1950, and the 1967 Black Cat protests preceded Stonewall by two years. Today, Silver Lake remains popular with the leather and bear communities, Latino queer population, and those seeking creative, non-mainstream queer culture. Mental health services must address the neighborhood’s gentrification pressures, the intersection of queer and artistic identities, and the specific needs of leather/kink communities often underserved in traditional therapy settings.
Downtown Los Angeles: DTLA’s queer scene has exploded in recent years with strong Latin influences and edgy, evolving nightlife. The area hosts DTLA Proud, a major pride festival, and numerous queer-owned bars and businesses. However, Downtown’s queer community faces unique challenges including economic precarity, the intersection of queer identity with experiences of homelessness (LGBTQ+ youth represent 40% of homeless youth nationally), and navigating safety in a rapidly developing urban core. Services must address these material realities alongside identity-specific mental health needs.
Angeles Psychology Group’s Mid-Wilshire location at 6363 Wilshire Boulevard (https://share.google/zWJfQs9OhDuVwNeGQ) sits centrally between all three communities, accessible via public transit. Extended hours from 7 AM to 10 PM daily and comprehensive telehealth options ensure accessibility across varied work schedules and transportation challenges.
Specialized Programming Addresses Unique Needs
The enhanced LGBTQIA+ services include specialized offerings developed specifically for queer communities:
Gay Men’s Therapy Groups: Facilitated by Matthew Michael Brown MA, these ongoing process groups provide space for gay men to explore how identity development impacts attachment, intimacy, and authentic self-expression. The groups address internalized homophobia, navigating contemporary gay culture (including apps and hookup culture), forming lasting relationships, and processing the developmental impacts of growing up gay in heteronormative environments. Research shows group therapy produces outcomes equal to or better than individual therapy for many while reducing the isolation that is prevalent among gay men.
Individual Affirmative Therapy: Clinicians provide individual therapy addressing coming out processes, gender identity exploration, relationship dynamics in diverse partnerships (couples, throuples, polycules), family rejection and chosen family creation, minority stress impacts, and intersections with other marginalized identities. Many of the therapists at Angeles Psychology Group understand queer experience from their own lived experience, eliminating the exhausting need for patients to educate providers about basic aspects of LGBTQ+ life.
Relationship Therapy for Non-Traditional Partnerships: Angeles Psychology Group offers couple and relationship therapy that recognizes LGBTQ+ relationships exist outside of heteronormative models. This includes work with same-sex couples, mixed-orientation relationships, kink-discordant relationships, and consensual nonmonogamy or polyamorous relationships. Therapy addresses navigating openness, processing internalized stigma affecting intimacy, building relationships without heteronormative scripts, and managing the unique stressors facing queer partnerships.
Evidence-Based Modalities Adapted for LGBTQ+ Experiences
The program integrates multiple therapeutic approaches specifically adapted for queer and trans patients:
Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy: Particularly effective for processing internalized homophobia and transphobia, IFS helps patients develop compassionate relationships with parts that absorbed societal messages about queerness being shameful or dangerous. This non-pathologizing approach recognizes that LGBTQ+ people don’t need fixing; they need support in healing from sociocultural harm.
Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT): Addresses attachment wounds from family rejection, bullying, or social exclusion that many LGBTQ+ individuals experience. For LGBTQ+ couples, EFT facilitates deeper emotional connection and repairs injuries from minority stress that can affect relationships.
Orgonomic (Reichian) Therapy and Somatic Approaches: Body-centered work addresses the somatic impacts of minority stress, shame, and hypervigilance developed from navigating unsafe environments. These approaches help release stored tension and reconnect with authentic embodied experience and pulsation.
“LGBTQIA+ individuals clearly don’t need any sort of conversion or correction, they need support in healing from all of the minority stress and societal trauma they have experienced,” notes Matthew Michael Brown MA, who facilitates the Gay Men’s Therapy Groups. “Affirmative therapy starts from the fundamental premise that queer and trans identities are natural, valid, and valuable. From that foundation, we can do the real work of processing trauma, building authentic relationships, and creating lives of meaning and joy.”
Addressing Treatment Disparities Through Accessibility
Despite elevated mental health needs, LGBTQ+ individuals face significant barriers accessing appropriate care. Studies show 30% of LGBTQ+ adults report difficulty finding culturally-competent providers, while 17% report experiencing discrimination in healthcare settings. These barriers are amplified for LGBTQ+ people of color, who face both homophobia/transphobia and racism within mental health systems.
Angeles Psychology Group addresses these barriers through clinicians with lived experience in queer and BIPOC communities, ongoing cultural competency training, sliding scale options, and a very explicit commitment to an intersectional, anti-oppressive practice. Free 20-minute consultations by phone or video ensure therapeutic fit before financial commitment.
About Angeles Psychology Group
Angeles Psychology Group is a holistic mental health practice in Los Angeles specializing in transformative therapy that addresses root causes rather than just symptoms. Founded by Neil Schierholz PsyD, the practice integrates rare therapeutic modalities including Orgonomic (Reichian) Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy, Depth Psychology, and Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT). With a team of highly-trained clinicians anchored in culturally-competent, affirmative care, Angeles Psychology Group serves individuals, couples, families, and groups seeking genuine, lasting transformation. The practice is located at 6363 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 520, Los Angeles, CA 90048, with services available seven days a week from 7 AM to 10 PM via in-person and telehealth formats.
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Angeles Psychology Group
6363 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 520
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Website: https://angelespsychologygroup.com
LGBTQIA+ Therapy: https://angelespsychologygroup.com/lgbtqia-therapy/
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