We recently connected with Grace O’Connor and have shared our conversation below.
Grace, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?
I completed my Masters Program in Clinical Psychology in December of 2017. Part of becoming a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of California is the acquisition of 3000 hours of clinician training that includes but is not limited to: face to face hours, supervision, attending workshops and receiving individual psychotherapy. A great way to accrue those hours is to by working as a therapist in the treatment world, which I did. I became a Primary Therapist and Group Facilitator in Dual Diagnosis Treatment, which I did for 4 years. And I kept my eye out for a supervisor in Private Practice who might be willing to take me on while I worked in treatment. in 2019 I met Casey Weitzman from Gender Wellness of Los Angeles who has been working with the Transgender and Non-binary populations for over 30 years. We discovered pretty quickly that we were a good fit. There is such a need for mental health treatment in the Trans and Gender Diverse communities. Casey and I focused on expanding the Gender Wellness brand by starting groups, enhancing our social media presence, beginning a podcast, and growing out our available resources. We have seem tremendous growth over the last five years, so much so that I was able to leave the treatment world at the end of 2022 and focus on my passion, which is helping other Trans and Non-binary folks get well. Casey and I are now focused on expanding our team by adding associates and other licensed professionals. We love what we do at GWLA and are committed to helping Transgender folks and their families to thrive. My advice to anyone considering a career in the mental health field is to focus on today. There is so much concern coming out of graduate school about where we will end up, who we will be working with, how much money we will be making. It’s been my experience that if I focus on being the best clinician I can be, the rest will take care of itself. We will naturally gravitate to those areas and populations that inspire us and drive us toward excellence.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Gender Wellness of Los Angeles mission is: “To provide mental health services and resources that enable transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals — and their families — to thrive”. We do this by providing psychotherapy services to Transgender and Non-binary folks as well as their partners and families. Gender Wellness has been servicing the TGD community for over thirty years, providing resources, conducting workshops and engaging in social activism. Gender Wellness excels at providing individual and group therapy as well as resources that enable Transgender people to live their best and most authentic lives. We like to consider ourselves a “one-stop shop”, which means when someone comes to GWLA for therapy they can be assured of being provided quality resources that have been personally vetted by either Casey or myself. Normally it’s both of us! We are so proud to be active across a variety of social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. On our podcast, “Over the Binary” we meet with professionals, across a variety of fields, who provide Trans-affirming services. To learn more about our podcast and what we do at GWLA please list our website at https://genwell.org.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
I would choose to be a therapist a thousand times over. I had tried many professions in my life. And through them all I continued with my own personal therapy. I have learned so much about myself and life from the therapist I have worked with. I had to unlearn the ways in which I was blocking myself from success. I think I had a commitment to being small for a long time. That may have kept me safe, but it also prevented me from being the best version of myself. I think it was when I was willing to face my whole self that I began to thrive. I couldn’t have done any of that work without a therapist who could show up for me consistently and hold space for the journey I was on. There came a point when I completed the work I needed to do at that time and began considering a career as a therapist. I am so glad I did. It is an amazing thing to see someone come in to that first session sad and dejected only to see them acquire new tools and begin to thrive in a way they may never have before. What a gift!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I came out as a Transgender female in 2015. I had always known I was gender variant but I never had the resources or structure in place to face it. Coming out was hard for so many reasons. I had grown up in the midwest in the 60’s and 70’s. There were no “out and proud” LGBTQ+ folks around. I would witness bullying behavior inflicted upon people who didn’t fit the cisgender/hetero norm. I learned to hide my Transgender Identity. But, it takes so much energy to suppress such a huge part of self. In 2015 I didn’t have the energy to hide it anymore, It has been quite the journey but I wouldn’t trade my experiences with anyone else’s. It’s been too hard-earned. And I have seen my own life blossom in a way I could have never imagined.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://genwell.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genderwellnessla/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genderwellnessoflosangeles
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@genderwellnessoflosangeles
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/gender-wellness-of-los-angeles-sherman-oaks?osq=gender+wellness+of
- Other: TikTok: @genderwellnesslosangeles