My couples and individual work is also informed by disability justice, encouraging rest as fuel or pleasure activism, harm reduction, and trauma-informed care. I am interested in building care collectives outside of the medical model and collaborating with communal systems of care pathologized by colonialism in order to provide culturally relevant mental health services for queer and trans folks of color.
I work with couples and adults and I specialize in QTIPOC couples (both monogamous & non-monogamous) and friendships. My approach to relational counseling is grounded in collaboration, building compassionate curiosity, and practicing generative (growth focused) conflict. My intention is to foster deeper relationships and create sustainable constellations of care through identifying how our stories, both present and past, shape how we show up. I believe we can use this knowledge to create change. I also specialize in working individually with folks who have experienced trauma and/or abuse, are dealing with depression & anxiety, need assistance navigating non-monogamous relationships, and want to explore gender identity & sexuality. I work with all people but prioritize QTIPOC clients who identify as queer, trans or gender non-conforming, and/or disabled.
I’m a second-generation Black trans art therapist from Queens, New York, and based in Brooklyn.
I have been facilitating generative conflict resolution with couples for the past 6 years. This is a growth focused modality that supports collaborative communication between people. I have seven years of experience working with LGBTQIA+ experiencing homelessness and with domestic violence survivors and their children. I also have 8 years of experience working with children and adolescents in after-school programming. My work has focused on crisis counseling, building coping skills for somatic responses to trauma, gender identity embodiment and affirmation, navigating multiple diagnoses specifically trauma, mood, & dissociative disorders, and sifting through race-related trauma.
- I hold a master’s degree (MPS) in Art Therapy from the School of Visual Arts (www.SVA.edu) and I presented work at SVA's Black History Month Exhibition (www.sva.edu/black-history-month) and I am a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist in New York State.
- I'm a member of the Kintsugi Therapist Collective, a community for therapists and aligned care workers dedicated to building embodied and liberatory practices of care: www.kintsugitherapistcollective.com
- I co-presented at Gender Conference NYC on the use of art therapy in identity exploration for TGNC youth.
- I am a group facilitator at the Gender & Family Project within the Ackerman Institute, for a monthly trans tweens social group: www.ackerman.org/lavender-roland-waring
-Group Facilitator at The Gender and Family Project, G&FP: www.genderandfamilyproject.org/staff
- I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice where I conducted 3 years of research on memory and PTSD: www.johnjay.cuny.edu/ariel-roland-waring
- Ongoing learning and supervision in Generative Practices for Couples, Somatic Therapy, and Art psychotherapy.