Izy Leighton (she/her)

I have experience working with teens and adults in a variety of settings, ranging from a secure inpatient facility to a group practice specializing in couples and sex therapy. In working with a variety of clients, I approach therapy as an active collaborator, a curious explorer, and a loving witness. I believe it's critical to consider the contexts in which my clients' concerns occur, exploring the impacts of trauma, attachment, culture, and oppression. My therapeutic style is authentic and warm, though I gently challenge my clients to approach their growing edges and take risks that support their healing. I believe a strong therapeutic relationship is a cornerstone of transformative therapy and a key change agent in itself; I continually invest in this relationship to provide my clients with reparative emotional experiences and support them in moving toward secure attachment with themselves and others.

Based on my intersecting identities, I experience certain types of marginalization and benefit from many unearned privileges. I am committed to examining the ways my own identities and past experiences impact my worldviews and my clinical work. My values as a human and therapist are aligned with equity and social justice, and believe that ethical therapy must concern itself with issues of power and oppression. As a queer and intersex woman, I particularly enjoy working with other members of the LGBTQIA+ community and have intimate understanding of some challenges this community faces. My practice is sex-positive and kink-aware, poly-friendly, anti-racist, and informed by Health At Every Size.