about

Amelia McGinley

SEP, MSW, LICSW she/her

It can be helpful to learn about your potential future therapist.

I provide affirming therapy for LGBTQIA+ adults and parents of gender diverse kids. I identify as queer, cis, white, on the GenX/Millennial cusp, and am a long-ago Minnesota transplant originally from the regional south/west. I have personally and professionally cared for gender expansive folks for over 20 years and consider this work the main focus and passion of my life.

I’ve done a lot of therapy myself and have appreciation for the hard work it takes. Therapy is a great way to feel better day-to-day, and to hone one's own life purpose. I have so much respect for those who are vulnerable and work on inner change. It's easy to point at what's out of our control, but when we realize what we can change within, life gets a lot better.

In the past, I've worked with children and families, in a community mental health clinic, alongside medical professionals providing integrated behavoral health care, in inpatient hospital units, and in a refugee resettlement agency. I've been in private practice since 2018 and a clinical supervisor since 2013. Once upon a time, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer.

In my free time, I engage in mindful exercise, yoga and meditation; I goof around with my kids, occasionally travel for fun, and attempt various unskilled yet joyful creative pursuits. If you ask me if I'm a cat or a dog person, I'll say: actually, I'm a plant person🌿.

I work in a few ways

I support people with gender and sexuality diversity. I also care deeply about supporting caregivers of trans kids. Some people come to me for trauma recovery, to navigate coming out, or with social and medical gender transitions. Many people say they just feel at ease sitting with someone who shares or understands some of their identities while they discuss other matters. I'm happy to support all of this and more.
I use somatic interventions and IFS with most clients. Here, you can read more about these modalities.
I provide clinical supervision for several graduate-level social workers.
I am committed to working cross culturally in an ethical and client-centered way. Born of European-American lineage with a great degree of rupture to my own ancestry, I try to do my own work. I believe it is my responsibility to identify, challenge, and change the values, structures and behaviors that perpetuate structural racism and colonialist practices within me.
My style is warm and relational, direct yet kind, and curious. I try to understand how things came to be and how things could get better.
I am not a relationship, couples, or family therapist, and am no longer providing therapy in Spanish.