About Avi

Hi! I’m Avi (he/they). I’m a psychotherapist, somatic therapist, sexuality educator, and drag artist. I provide therapy to individuals and couples and I teach a Sexuality Across the Lifecycle course at the University of Chicago. An important part of my activism is focused on facilitating trainings and consultation to medical providers about how to make healthcare safer and more trans-affirming. My therapeutic specialities are sex therapy, trauma, queer and trans affirming care, and working with emotional overwhelm and dysregulation. 

A large part of my ethos as a therapist is focused on providing services to folks who are commonly misunderstood by therapists: queer and trans people, kinky people, actors and artists. I came to this work in a roundabout way. In my twenties I was a professional actor and playwright, while I also worked in various reproductive/sexual rights contexts as a doula and abortion activist, and did a number of creative collaborations with sex workers. I became interested in the ways performing intense emotions impacted actors’ mental health and spent the last ten years researching and creating Offstage Equilibrium, which teaches actors skills for exiting emotion and character.

I work through a psychodynamic, narrative, and body-based lens. I’m also trained to provide EMDR which is an evidence-based treatment for trauma. As a trans therapist, I care a great deal about providing gender-affirming services to my community. I was trained in dance/movement therapy and I often include the body in the way I approach classic talk therapy. What this all looks like in practice is we’ll talk about what brings you to therapy, your relationships, your identities, your emotions and beliefs, and how all this shows up in your body. We may also use movement as a way to process, express, and contain emotions. 

Many of us have had less than ideal experiences in relationships, be it with caregivers, friends, partners, or previous therapists and healthcare providers. I see therapy not only as a space where we address your goals, but also a relationship that might heal some part of those past experiences. It’s my intention to provide a relationship based on consent, consistency, and respectful curiosity, where I might earn your trust over time.

LCPC (licensed clinical professional counselor) in Illinois

EMDR trained clinician

MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts, Goddard College – researching actors’ mental health

MA in Counseling Psychology, Columbia College Chicago – specialization in dance/movement therapy

I have previous work experience in inpatient, residential, and outpatient therapy settings.