Our 9 Picks for Where to Find LGBTQIA+ Counseling Online

Founded in 2012, Talkspace is a comprehensive telehealth service providing online therapy and psychiatric services to a wide range of clients including individual adults, teens, and couples—and it is LGBTQIA+ friendly. Talkspace therapists can help navigate issues from relationships and coming out to discrimination, harassment, gender identity, and more. 

The platform offers a free consultation that can help you connect with an LGBTQIA+ therapist who makes you feel comfortable, understood, and accepted. If you start working with a therapist and decide you want to switch, it’s easy and free to do so. 

Clients can opt for a plan that’s messaging-only, with responses from your therapist every business day, or one that also includes live therapy via calls or video. If you choose the 30-minute live therapy subscription, you’ll receive four flexible credits for sessions that must be used within a month, so it doesn’t have to be a rigid one-session-a-week schedule if that doesn’t work for you. 

Talkspace is able to provide medication management through its psychiatry services, but it’s important to know that it won’t prescribe controlled substances like stimulants, painkillers, or benzodiazepines (including medications like Adderall, Xanax, and Ritalin). The meds you’re prescribed can be picked up at a local pharmacy, or delivered through the mail if your insurance company offers that as a benefit. 

The platform takes insurance and offers multiple monthly plans to choose from, making therapy more accessible to LGBTQIA+ clients who need support. 

Talkspace is in-network with many insurance providers, such as Aetna, Cigna, Premera, and Blue Cross Blue Shield, although it does not accept Medicaid or Medicare. If using insurance, your cost will vary based on your specific plan and benefits.

Talkspace offers three different monthly individual therapy packages for those paying out of pocket:

• Messaging therapy: $276 per month for unlimited messaging with your therapist, including guaranteed responses back five days a week
• Messaging and video therapy: $396 per month for messaging plus one 45-minute video or phone therapy session each week
• Messaging, video, and workshop therapy: $436 for the messaging and video plan, along with weekly workshops

If you have the ability to pay quarterly or biannually, you will receive a discount.

Couples therapy is available on a pay-per-month subscription basis, starting at $436 per month. Psychiatric services are the only pay-per-session option available; your initial 60-minute consultation is $249 and each 30-minute follow-up session, $125. Medication costs are not included.

It’s important to note when factoring in price and making comparisons to other companies that Talkspace therapy sessions are 30 minutes long. At sign-up, there is often a promo code on the top banner of the website to lower the price of the first month, and if you ever decide to cancel, you might just get offered a discount to stay with the service. 

Our reviewer didn’t mesh well with the therapists she was matched with, unfortunately, finding them distracted during sessions. That said, 78% of Talkspace survey respondents said that either all or most of their needs were met by their therapists, and our reviewer appreciated the fact that therapy seekers had the ability to see a provider within just a day or two of signing up.

Ninety-two percent of surveyed users rated Talkspace therapists’ qualifications as either good, very good, or excellent, with 24% stating that therapist identity was very important to them when it came to choosing Talkspace in the first place. Users also seemed to think there was a decent amount of therapist diversity on the site, with 90% rating the diversity as either good, very good, or excellent.

The telehealth platform Amwell treats clients ages 10 and up, unlike many competitors, making it a good choice for LGBTQIA+ adolescents, families, adults, and couples.

As one of the largest telehealth care companies in the world, Amwell provides collaborative care and treatment for a wide range of health concerns. Its mental health services consist of individual therapy, couples therapy, family therapy (for groups of up to four people), menopause counseling, and psychiatry. 

Therapy sessions at Amwell last 45 minutes and take place over live video or phone call. The company’s psychiatrists are able to prescribe medications (except for controlled substances) and send your prescriptions to a local pharmacy for pickup. Note: Some states require a video session (rather than a phone call) before a provider can issue a prescription.

This company might not be the best fit for all people because of its lack of diversity statements and its all-white leadership board. However, if your priority is working with an online therapy company that accepts your insurance, Amwell is still a good choice; 87% of users told us they found Amwell’s therapist diversity to be either good, very good, or excellent.

As of the time of writing, Amwell is in network with 126 health plans, including Anthem, UnitedHealthcare, and Aetna. Sixty-one percent of Amwell users we surveyed reported that their session costs were either partially or completely covered by insurance.

Without insurance, clients can expect to pay:

• $109 per session with a therapist with a master’s degree 
• $129 per session with a therapist with a doctoral degree
• $279 per initial 45-minute consultation with a board-certified psychiatrist
• $109 per 15-minute psychiatry follow-up

There is no difference in cost or duration for the type of therapy session you pick, meaning that an individual therapy session will cost the same and last the same amount of time as a family session. At times, Amwell has offered promotional codes for heavily discounted first visits. 

Overall, 86% of Amwell users reported that their therapist met either all or most of their needs, and 70% would choose the company for a new therapist in the future. A full 88% rated the company as either good, very good, or excellent.

One of our reviewers tried Amwell for individual therapy and couples counseling. She and her husband had a good experience with their couples therapist. However, she thought the sign-up process needed more specific screenings to ensure that the platform can fully fit each user’s needs in individual therapy. She also mentioned that, when scheduling, she did not see a way to indicate you were looking for LGBTQIA+ counseling. 

Peer counseling, or counseling provided by someone like you who does not have official certification to provide therapy, is not therapy. But a research study showed it can be “effective for reducing clinical mental illness symptoms, improving overall personal recovery, and more specifically hope”—which is especially important for LGBTQIA+ people navigating a hostile world.

Peer Collective was founded in 2019 by Tim Desmond, LMFT, based on his belief that attention from a caring human being is the single most important factor in creating positive mental health outcomes—even more than the number of degrees that person has hanging on the wall.

Peer Collective fills a major gap for people who are seeking a listening ear but who can’t afford a traditional therapist. Peer Collective does not provide online therapy. Rather, it offers emotional support, which is all some LGBTQIA+ clients are looking for. 

Those looking for a trained peer counselor who they feel can identify with their specific needs will be happy with the quick intake process: Just answer six questions about what you’re looking for in a peer counselor—including whether you’d like to work with someone of a particular age, race, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Then you’ll be presented with a short list of suggested counselors to schedule with. 

Peer Collective told us that new clients tend to hear from their chosen peer counselor within 24 hours. 

It’s important to note that Peer Collective does not provide therapy. Its providers are not licensed therapists, so the company can’t accept insurance or provide a superbill for services. However, the company says that it intends to become available for free to all Medicaid recipients within a few years.

Still, Peer Collective offers a free video or phone session to new clients, and follow-up sessions are affordably priced:

• $14 for a 30-minute session
• $28 for a 60-minute session

Standing by its quality and customer care, the company will refund you immediately if you are not satisfied with a paid session. 

Peer Collective has received high ratings from clients who appreciate its warmth, diversity, and nonjudgmental counselors. Eighty-eight percent of users reported in our 2021 online therapy survey that they were either likely or very likely to still be seeing a Peer Collective counselor in 12 months’ time, and 79% of the users who had tried other online therapy services before said that Peer Collective was either better or much better in comparison. 

Launched in 2020, Talkiatry specializes in providing psychiatry, or the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions. Available to people in 42 states and the District of Columbia, it is the most widely available psychiatry-focused platform we reviewed that employs all its providers (rather than working with independent contractors). Its website stresses that it treats patients with zero judgment, striving to be a safe space for all clients—LGBTQIA+ or not—aged 5 and up.

After an initial online assessment that screens for specific mental health conditions and makes sure you aren’t currently in crisis, you will be given three psychiatrists to choose from. Once you’ve made your choice, you’ll likely meet with your new psychiatrist within 72 hours.

Talkiatry providers are well equipped to treat conditions like anxiety, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, insomnia, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and abuse; however, they cannot accept clients with complex conditions that would be better monitored and treated in person, such as eating disorders, substance use disorders, and schizophrenia.

Your psychiatrist will meet with you virtually on a schedule you set together, with the first visit lasting 60 minutes, and follow-ups lasting 30 minutes, always with the same clinician. If your treatment plan includes medication, your psychiatrist will prescribe and manage it. Talkiatry does not offer prescription delivery, so you will need to pick up your meds at a local pharmacy.

Talkiatry only accepts insured clients, but it is in network with all major insurers, including Aetna, BlueCross, Cigna, Optum, and Medicare. It is not a monthly subscription service—you just pay your copay plus the cost of any medication you are prescribed. 

The price you pay per session varies depending on your insurance coverage. You can get an estimate of your copay using Talkiatry's insurance lookup tool before signing up.

Sessions are monthly at first. Then, once your psychiatrist is satisfied that the treatment plan is working, you’ll have a check-in session every three months.

Clients seem to appreciate both the session length (which was the longest of any medication management platform we evaluated) and the care taken at intake to ensure the right client/psychiatrist fit. 

In our survey, a full 95% of users rated their experience with Talkiatry as either good, very good, or excellent—one of the highest ratings across all 50+ therapy and psychiatry companies we researched—and 91% said their prescribers' qualifications were either good, very good, or excellent.

Our reviewer, having found a good psychiatrist the first time, agreed: “I really liked my psychiatrist at Talkiatry—so much so that I did not want to switch prescribers at the end of our session.”

E-Therapy Cafe offers a wide range of services, including LGBTQIA+ counseling, at affordable prices. These lower rates are likely influenced by the fact that not all providers are licensed therapists—some are licensed professional counselors (LPC) and certified life coaches (with many described as being “expert level”).

The main difference between the two types of providers, as Owens notes, is that “coaches are not held to the same licensure standards as licensed therapists, meaning they are not held accountable [legally] like therapists are.” However, certified coaches may still be subject to some form of accountability by the organization that issued that certification.

Individual therapy, couples and marriage counseling, and wedding and bridal coaching are available. The company can also offer a prescription letter to obtain an emotional support animal (ESA), stating that the animal alleviates the stress caused by a mental or emotional disability. 

The standard online video or chat session is 30 minutes long, but e-journal sessions are also an option for clients who prefer to communicate their thoughts in 700 characters and receive a response of similar length from the provider. 

E-Therapy Cafe goes beyond traditional talk therapy and can also provide alternative methods of working with clients, such as hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming, art therapy, and eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR). 

E-Therapy Cafe is a good budget option because it lets you pay as you go for sessions. There is also the option to purchase monthly subscription bundles at a small discount:

• Pay as You Go: $55 per 30-minute video, chat, or e-journal session
• ETC Four: $196 per month for four 30-minute sessions (you can mix and match session types, or even schedule two sessions back-to-back)
• ETC Eight: $360 per month for eight sessions

If you’re not sure yet, you can opt for a $50 trial session (it's the full 30 minutes long) to make sure you’re happy with the service and your provider. It’s important to note that session credits expire 30 days from purchase.

Emotional support animal letter appointments cost $165 and include assessment, evaluation, consultation, and prescription. If you are determined to be ineligible for an ESA letter, you will be refunded (minus the $110 assessment service fee).

E-Therapy Cafe does not take insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare; however, there is a 10% discount for veterans, first responders, and students upon request.

Our reviewer who tried the platform noted: “I felt cared for, and connected to both of the people I worked with, but it took a couple of tries to find a practitioner I trusted—someone who created a therapeutic alliance that I felt was both safe and productive.” 

Still, 94% of our survey respondents rated E-Therapy Cafe overall as either good, very good, or excellent, and 82% said either all or most of their needs were met by their provider. 

If you’re in a relationship, couples counseling can help improve communication and intimacy, no matter you and your partner(s)’s gender and sexuality. 

Octave can help with relationships and more, as its licensed clinical social workers, psychologists, and licensed marriage and family therapists offer individual, couples, and family therapy. Many providers specialize in racial trauma, LGBTQIA+ issues, and gender transition and are members of marginalized communities themselves. 

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), EMDR, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) are just a few of the techniques and treatment options available. Octave’s licensed psychotherapists lead mental health skill-building workshops as well. 

Its services are available to adults in California, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington D.C., and in over 20 different languages if you prefer to work in a language other than English. 

While you can see a preview of therapist bios before signing up, the company will ultimately match you with the best fit based on your intake form. All therapy at Octave takes place during 45-minute live Zoom sessions; currently, there is no app available.

If you’re a self-paying client, Octave’s out-of-pocket fees are based both on the kind of service requested and where you’re located.

• Individual therapy: $170 to $250 per session
• Couples or family therapy: $190 to $275 per session
• Group therapy: About $75 per session

Octave is in network with a number of employer-sponsored plans. The site offers a cost estimator to get a rough estimate of your cost per therapy visit, but you won’t receive your final price until actually signing up. It’s important to note that couples therapy is not usually covered by insurance unless the session is specifically focused on one partner’s diagnosed mental health concerns.

Additionally, Medicare and Medicaid recipients are currently ineligible to receive services from Octave at all, even if paying out of pocket, which may be a downside for some seeking therapy with the company.

Octave survey respondents reported satisfaction with the services they received— seventy-one percent of them rated the company overall as either good, very good, or excellent. A similar number—74%—also told us that their therapists’ qualifications ranged from good to excellent. 

Although one reviewer and her husband experienced a week-long wait between requesting a therapist and actually being matched with one—and a similar wait when requesting a new therapist—both partners felt the therapist was very engaged and insightful during sessions.

It can be difficult enough for LGBTQIA+ clients seeking quality mental health care to feel seen and understood. Add on a strong belief in the Christian faith, and it’s even harder to find a therapist who might be able to relate. However, The Christian Closet is entirely made up of Christian, LGBTQIA+-identifying providers who can help clients feel fully supported. 

The counselors offer a range of nonjudgmental services, from helping clients come out to couples counseling for queer people married to non-queer partners to support group sessions led by a licensed therapist or a trained spiritual director. The Christian Closet wants to help clients create a new relationship with their Christian faith, one that makes them feel included and accepted, not excluded.

All sessions take place over video. For now, there is no messaging service available, a notable downside compared to most other online therapy platforms we reviewed. 

At The Christian Closet, the first half-hour trial therapy session is free; sessions after that start at $165. Each therapist sets their own rate, with some offering a sliding fee scale. However, none of the providers accept insurance.

Groups meet weekly for six to eight weeks, and range from $60 to $75 per 90-minute session. 

We did not get the opportunity to survey any of The Christian Closet’s users. We thought it was still important to include it in this list because it is the only nationally available service of its kind.

“Because the Christian faith is often not accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community, and in fact often acts directly against the wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ individuals, a service like this for LGBTQIA+ Christians is a valuable resource,” explains Hannah Owens, LMSW, a subject matter expert. “Members of the LGBTQIA+ community should not have to choose between their gender and sexual identities and their identities as Christians, and the Christian Closet provides space for both.”

Gay Therapy Center offers both individual and couples therapy, as well as kink- and polyamory-inclusive sex therapy. Its therapists are qualified to treat a number of different mental health concerns, such as low self-esteem, infidelity, and the specific needs of open relationships. In particular, the providers can help create a treatment plan to help therapy seekers manage anxiety and depression and increase self-worth, whether or not these concerns are related to LGBTQIA+ identity.

The center’s therapists, each with an average of 10 years of experience, are trained to use a variety of different therapeutic techniques, including:

• CBT
• Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) 
• Trauma therapy
• Gestalt therapy
• EMDR
• Gottman method couples therapy
• Psychodynamic psychotherapy

One downside of Gay Therapy Center is that the provider bios do not mention last names or license numbers, making it hard to do your own research on the therapists. Still, one of two intake coordinators will personally match you with a suitable therapist based on the kind of gender or age you prefer to work with, as well as if you prefer to be intensely challenged in sessions or would appreciate more coddling. 

Virtual sessions can take the form of video calls through the HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform doxy.me, or simply phone calls if you prefer (or don’t have internet). 

Before you commit to a therapist, you’ll get a free 15-minute consult call. A separate (free) intro call with the therapist you choose is required before beginning therapy to make sure they are the correct fit for you. 

Therapy at Gay Therapy Center is billed per 50-minute session, with no monthly subscription available. Most of the therapists charge at least $185 per session, with some offering sliding scale pricing. California clients may have the option of working with an associate-level therapist for $120, but otherwise, no other discounts are available as of the time of writing.

Gay Therapy Center is not in-network with any insurance providers, but if you're a resident of California, New York, or the District of Columbia, you may request a superbill to try to get partially reimbursed, depending on your individual out-of-network coverage. Those not living elsewhere will need to pay out of pocket.

Our reviewer’s experience with Gay Therapy Center, unfortunately, had room for improvement: While the intake coordinator was friendly and warm, it ended up taking several weeks to finally start therapy with a therapist experienced in trans issues.

However, a total of 71% of clients surveyed said they were either likely or very likely to refer a friend to Gay Therapy Center. Of those who stopped using the company’s services, a total of 50% said it was because they had reached all of their therapeutic goals or were feeling well enough to stop therapy. 

Inclusive Therapists is a large therapist directory focused on the needs of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, and disabled communities. 

The Inclusive Therapists directory includes roughly 3,800 practitioners from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Hong Kong, many of whom are psychotherapists and psychiatrists. Some integrate mindfulness practices like yoga and breathwork into their clinical work.

On the landing page, you can search out a provider by location, specialties, therapeutic approaches, cultural knowledge, and more, and then fine-tune by specialties such as bipolar disorder, focuses including disability justice. There is even an option to search for providers who identify as neurodivergent. 

Only some providers list their rates, while some just say whether or not they take insurance or can offer a sliding scale. While the filtering options to find a therapist are extensive and comprehensive, it can get time-consuming to follow up to figure out the price for each—or even which state each is available in.

Inclusive Therapists is only a directory—it doesn’t handle payment or insurance claims for the therapy seeker. However, a nice feature is that the directory will help match you with up to three therapists, who will contact you directly.

The directory is free for therapy-seekers to use; therapists do have to pay to be listed on the directory, 

Individual therapists and counselors set their own rates. If using insurance, your final costs will depend on your individual plan.

Overall, user satisfaction once connected with their therapist is high: Seventy-eight percent of Inclusive Therapists users we surveyed who had found their therapists from this directory are still with them today—and 76% thought it was either likely or very likely that they’d be with that same provider in six months’ time.

It may be a bit tricky to find the right therapist for you who actually can take you on as a client, however, as 67% of respondents reported having to reach out to three or more therapists before finding one with availability. Even so, our reviewer greatly appreciated the number of specific, inclusive search filters, as well as the fact that the site promotes Mental Health Liberation’s BIPOC Therapy Fund, making it easier for BIPOC therapy seekers to afford sessions.

“For many, finding a therapist who is not only an LGBTQIA+ ally but who also shares a common gender or sexual identity is imperative for establishing a therapeutic rapport and making therapy a safe space,” says Owens. “Not having to worry about your therapist discriminating against you or not understanding the challenges you may face as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community is the least you could ask of your therapy experience. Inclusive Therapists guarantees that you will find a provider who knows and accepts on a personal level your identity and all that comes with it.”