Denis Flanigan

Something to know about my approach is that I'm specialized in who I work with, not in any one clinical concern. My clients come in for what brings anyone to therapy — anxiety, depression, life transitions, grief, relationships — but what is distinctive is that I do that work with people whose lives, identities, or beliefs fall outside the mainstream.

Together, we will work conversationally and directly. We'll look at what's happening in your life now, and at the underlying patterns shaping how you've come to see yourself, other people, and your situation. The work tends to be both supportive and challenging — change usually happens when people feel safe enough to be honest and stretched enough to move.

My clients describe me as direct and honest — someone who will engage with what's actually going on rather than staying comfortable. They also tell me they feel genuinely understood, often without having to explain the basics of who they are. The combination tends to matter: feeling both safe enough to be honest and challenged enough to actually move.

I specialize in working with people who have often felt that a therapist couldn't quite meet them where they are — because of their identity, their relationships, their beliefs, or simply how they move through the world. That includes LGBTQ+, kink-involved, polyamorous, pagan, and neurodivergent clients, among others.

I became a therapist because I know what it's like to be someone whose identity doesn't fit the default mold. Coming out as a gay man in 1986, during the AIDS crisis, I faced real isolation — and the support I found changed everything. I'm also simply drawn to the work: helping people make sense of their world and find meaning in it.

Beneath whatever brings someone to therapy, I find the same three questions tend to shape almost everything: how you see the world, how you see other people, and how you see yourself. Most of us have never really examined our answers — and therapy is where they can be looked at honestly, and rebuilt on your own terms.