Meet Luca Valentine | Mental Health Therapist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Luca Valentine and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Luca, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
My private practice was built with my community in mind. As a neurodivergent transgender individual, I had to much difficulty accessing competent mental health services that could meet me where I was at. Now through my practice I help bring care to individuals who also live at this intersection of experience. With a lifetime of lived experience and over a decade of professional experience, I work everyday to improve the lives of my clients. I do this through individual, group, and family therapy, as well educating other providers through trainings and conferences.

My practice was originally just for individual therapy. I added family therapy within my first year of practice. Familial estrangement is unfortunately very common for folks in the trans community. By providing family therapy and family coping skills education, these issues can be brought up and addressed in a supportive and validating environment. This can make such a profound difference in a transgender child’s life, wether they’re still a kiddo or an adult child that has been estranged from their parents.

The other side of my business is focused on education for other helping professionals. I speak at several conferences and continuing education events throughout the year. Through these events, I can teach a variety of different helping professionals work effectively with folks who are transgender and/or neurodivergent and/or have an eating disorder. When group practices or smaller agencies want me to do a training, this is also ofference on a sliding scale. The sliding scale takes into account lenght of time for training, content, and the agency’s budget.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My services are a little different than other mental health providers. Most notable was that until recently, I was the first and only provider doing DBT-informed skills groups with exclusively queer and transgender neurodivergent folks. Thankfully I’m no longer the only one providing this service to folks in this community. I’ve been teaching other clinicians how to proivde care for transgender folk for ten years now which I offer in bother independent countinuing education events and conferences.

All of my pay rates are sliding scale, because I don’t think there’s anything outstanding about the services I provide unless they’re financially accessible. One of the things that keeps people from accessing mental health care is the financial barrier. In the United States we’re seeing more and more people go to therapy as we remove the stigma from this kind of healthcare. And people who are financially marginalized need the most support which is why I also offer some services for free. For some trans folks who BIPOC and/or disabled, I have a fixed number of pro bono spots. I also don’t charge for folks who just need a letter to access gender affirming care; another financial barrier that can keep people from life saving medical care.

The last thing that sets my services apart are house calls. I provide in-home and in-community services. This may mean going to the grocery store with a neurodivergent client to help them select the best food options while they also work to cope with things like sensory overstimulation. I also work in-home with folks who benefit from meal support as part of their eating disorder recovery, and this drastically increases the ways in which I can help folks affect change in their life. House calls allow for in person talk therapy, without the client having to leave the comfort of their safe space. Doing family therapy in-home can also helps kiddos that struggle to adjust to different environments.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
As a queer nerdy Atlantan, there’s so much to do in and around Atlanta. Starting the day with either the High Museum of Art or the Fernbank Museum. Sometimes they’ll have short lived exhibits that are profoundly impressive or moving. If they prefer antiquing, I’d have to go to the Antique Market in Alpharetta or Madison, Ga.

Next for lunch, I recommend Friends on the Park, or if we’re doing brunch, it has to be a drag brunch with endless Mimosas at Lips Atlanta. The performers at Lips Atlanta are fantastic and just so much fun, and the food is delicious. Evening entertainment is in no short supply in Atlanta. A wrestling match at Center Stage or seeing Sarah and the Safe Word at The Masquerade is the perfect end to an exciting day. If you’re still hungry after all that, El Rey del Taco in Doraville on Buford Highway is usually open into the early morning hours with a line around the building. If you’re visiting from New Mexico or Arizona and want really good Mexican food, you can’t go wrong with El Rey.

For events, I have to say my two go-to events in Altanta are DragonCon and Pride. DragonCon happens every Labor Day weekend and is a five day weekend of all things nerdy, dorky, sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, card playing…you name it. If it has a fandom or a following, you can find it somewhere at DragonCon. Pride of course happens every October in Piedmont Park and the parade is not to be missed. Now, if you can’t make it into the city there are several smaller Pride events that happen in places like Snellville, Norcross, Marietta, etc.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have been supported by a bevy of outstanding teachers, mentors, and colleagues. Two of my most notable teachers have been Scott Butler at GC&SU and Tasha Ferguson from my elementary school years. Georgia College & State University was where I graduated with my Bachelor’s of Psycholgoy. Next I have the University of Georgia School of Social Work to thank. Without these institutions, I wouldn’t have the foundation for my private practice. Without teachers that supported and held space for me, I don’t know that I would have come this far. I also have a myriad of supportive friends and partners who have cheered me on the whole way. That have traveled with me to speaking engagements or offered feedback on a training. I truly would not be where I am without these folks in my life.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luca-valentine-lmsw-7bb7864a/

Image Credits
Mia Edwards