Gender Dysphoria

Understanding Gender Dysphoria

Gender dysphoria is the distress that arises when an individual’s gender identity does not align with their assigned gender at birth. This mismatch can lead to feelings of discomfort, anxiety, and emotional pain, often making it difficult for individuals to navigate social and personal relationships. Gender dysphoria can affect individuals of all ages and may require medical, social, and psychological support.

The Role of Counselling in Supporting Gender Dysphoria

Counselling offers a safe, affirming space for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria to explore their identity, understand their feelings, and receive support. Therapy helps individuals navigate the emotional and practical challenges of transitioning or living authentically in their gender identity.

Building Self-Acceptance

Through therapy, individuals work on building self-acceptance and developing the confidence to express their true selves. Counselling supports individuals in managing the emotional impact of societal pressures and stigma, helping them find empowerment in their identity.

Navigating Relationships and Support Systems

Therapists help individuals with gender dysphoria communicate with family, friends, and loved ones about their identity, fostering understanding and support. Counselling provides tools for building healthy relationships and developing strong support systems.

  • Exploring gender identity
  • Building self-acceptance
  • Navigating relationships and support
  • Managing emotional challenges of transitioning
Find Gender Dysphoria therapists in Brighton & Hove

Therapists in Brighton & Hove

Browse our verified therapists — many work across a wide range of issues and may be able to help.

Alan Sparkes Hove

Alan Sparkes

Psychotherapist & Counsellor

An integrative psychotherapist with 20 years’ experience, working with shame and relational trauma, and with people who’ve had therapy before but found it didn’t reach the root of things.I often work with men who've spent years holding it together, and with women living with the effects of early or relational trauma. What brings people is usually anxiety or depression, but underneath there's something that has been there a long time: a harsh inner voice, a sense of never being quite good enough, relationship patterns that keep repeating, or simply not knowing why you feel the way you do.I don't do psychic amputation. You can't cut off the parts of yourself you don't like, or that cause you pain, without running into more problems. Therapy can help those parts be understood and integrated, so you can live more fully.I'm not a therapist who just nods and asks how that makes you feel. I'll tell you what I notice, and when it helps, I'll gently challenge you, always with care. I also work with couples, helping each partner understand what keeps happening between them.I am a UKCP-registered psychotherapist. I built and ran a multi-room therapy practice in Hove, lead peer groups for practitioners, founded Brighton Counselling Directory, and also counsel with the Terrence Higgins Trust in Brighton. Qualified therapists are welcome as clients.

BACPRegisteredUKCPAccredited

Ayesha Daly Brighton

Ayesha Daly

Humanistic Integrative Counsellor

​I am an experienced Humanistic counsellor practising in Lewes and Brighton, East Sussex and believe everyone has the capacity to heal and move forward. I understand how difficult starting counselling can be and will hope to answer any queries you have. For me therapy has been incredibly important, healing and rewarding. As a counsellor I hope to offer you what I have gained.

BACPAccredited

Joana Miranda Brighton

Joana Miranda

Psychotherapeutic Counsellor

I am a qualified counsellor offering online and face to face sessions in Brighton (Kemptown), with an interest in supporting women in their 20s, 30s and 40s. My personal experiences of stress and anxiety have given me an understanding of how incapacitating it can be when life feels overwhelming, your mind won't shut up, and you find yourself putting pressure on yourself to stay afloat. Alongside my professional training, these experiences have shaped my warm and non-judgemental approach to counselling. I believe that having a space where you can be truly heard, without judgement or expectations, can make a difference. Whether you are struggling with anxiety or stress, feeling indecisive, lacking self confidence, navigating relationships or simply feeling that something fundamental needs to change, counselling can give you an opportunity to press pause and come home to yourself. I have a particular interest in mindfulness and meditation, and in how these practices can support greater awareness, calm and connection in everyday life. These interests naturally form part of my approach, alongside my counselling training and experience.

NCPSAccredited

Cerrie Lantrua Brighton

Cerrie Lantrua

Counsellor

Clients often tell me how much they value having a space where they feel understood, where they don’t have to explain their neurodivergence or justify their experiences.I am neurodivergent myself, and I’m open about that. It’s not something I see as a limitation, but as something that shapes how I understand, relate, and connect. Alongside my training and experience, this gives me a way of seeing things that often helps clients feel recognised in ways they may not have experienced before.I’m naturally creative and tend to think outside the box, which allows me to consider different perspectives and gently step into what it might be like to be you, not from a place of judgement, but from a genuine willingness to understand.At the same time, I don’t assume your experience is the same as anyone else’s. No two people are the same. A big part of what I offer is taking the time to learn what you need, how you experience things, and what support feels right for you.You are the expert on yourself. My role isn’t to tell you what to do or who to be, but to walk alongside you as you begin to understand yourself more fully.I aim to create a space where you feel safe enough to be real. Where you don’t have to mask, filter, or find the “right” way to say things. A space where you can feel seen, heard, and genuinely understood. 

BACPRegistered

Tony Austin Brighton

Tony Austin

Integrative psychotherapist

Common feelings such as anxiety, a lack of self-worth or sadness colour our experience and often leave us feeling we have lost our way. Sometimes we can feel like our own worst enemy, giving ourselves a hard time because others can manage, so why can’t I?I chose to train as a psychotherapist after being in therapy myself. Through the process of talking with a skilled therapist I was able to reflect on how my past had shaped my present, understand myself better, value myself more and create a happier, more fulfilled life and I want to help others do the same. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than having a client say they feel “unburdened” at the end of a session or, at their final session, seeing them leave with greater confidence ready to make the changes necessary to create the life they want.After completing my training as a counsellor at Lambeth College, I worked for an NHS counselling service in West London. I helped many clients dealing with anxiety, depression, relationship breakdown and many other common issues and seeing so many people find positive solutions fuelled my passion for therapy and I would like to help you.  I believe everyone deserves to be heard and with the right support can create positive, lasting change. Through our work together, I can help you reduce anxiety, rebuild your confidence, learn how to recognise unhelpful habits such as “people pleasing”, or “self-sabotage” and create better relationships with yourself and others.If you want to learn more about how counselling can help you, get in touch through the link at the bottom of this page and take the first step to happier, more fulfilling life.

BACPAccredited

Jaz Stroe Brighton

Jaz Stroe

Therapist / Counsellor

A Registered Member of the BACP, I've trained extensively in psychodynamic psychotherapy and counselling, working with the past, memories, dreams and the unconscious. I also volunteer with two leading mental health organisations and benefit from bi-weekly supervision to deepen my knowledge and approach.I’m also a third-culture person. I grew up in the UK with mixed Romanian and Serbian heritage. I know what it's like to perform versions of yourself while quietly feeling like someone else. Cultural identity, migration, belonging and othering are all woven into my psychology and therapeutic practice.I aim to maintain a genuinely inclusive space across culture, identity, sexual orientation, relationship structure, faith, and background. I don't work from a single script of what a person, a relationship, or a life should look like. I work within an ethic of non-harm, to self and to others, and I ask the same of the therapeutic space we share.Ultimately, I came into this work wanting to understand and aid my own mental wellbeing. I've had personal therapy for over a decade. I can only take you as far as I've gone myself, and I've gone deep. In other words, you're in safe hands, and you will be held week after week, for as long as you keep showing up.

BACPRegistered

Explore by issues

Discover valuable information on common mental health issues, and how counseling can help.

Saved therapists
Loading...

No saved therapists yet.

Find a therapist

Finding the right therapist is a personal journey and rarely a quick decision. To help you take your time, you can bookmark any therapist profile you want to revisit later — no account or login needed. Simply click the bookmark icon on any therapist card to save them to your list. Your saved therapists are stored in your browser, so they'll still be there when you come back.