Working with MacKenzie

About You

MacKenzie works with adults and families from a variety of backgrounds, including:

• LGBTQIA2-S people

  • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, and 2-spirt people are all welcome at Metaphor Therapy

• People in ethically nonmonogamous relationships, including polyamorous and open relationships

• BDSM/kink practitioners and community members

• Sex workers

• Fat people and folks of size

• COVID-conscious people

• People living with chronic depression and suicidality

• Mental health professionals, including therapists, social workers, coaches, and peer counselors

• Artists, creatives, and small business owners

• Families including adults, adolescents, and children, especially those with any of the above backgrounds

• People who have historically been left out of therapeutic healing due to systemic forces like ableism or racism

About Us

You'll work collaboratively with MacKenzie to craft a treatment plan that makes sense for your goals, budget, and timeline. MacKenzie can work with you on many facets of your life, such as:

• Exploring family of origin experiences and how they impact your current relationships

• Discovering how your values inform your boundaries and behavior

• Navigating the ongoing impact of COVID, disability, or chronic illness on your world

• Learning skills to manage your depression, suicidal ideation, and negative experiences

• Finding meaningful activities and beloved community

• Building the right nonmonogamous/polyamorous relationship for you, your partner(s), and any metamours

• Creating rituals to honor big and small moments in your life

• Whatever you feel would most benefit you

COVID-Conscious Therapy

As the weeks, months, and years pass, maintaining COVID protections has become increasingly isolating or demoralizing. As the world pushes to treat COVID as something in the past, MacKenzie has seen relational stresses, loneliness, and despair increase in her clients and communities. MacKenzie has experience in supporting clients in navigating the relational and personal aspects of the pandemic.

While not all of MacKenzie's clients are COVID-conscious, many who are have expressed curiosity about MacKenzie's own protections. MacKenzie has health conditions that place her at risk of COVID complications, necessitating higher than average protections over the past several years.

For in-person psychotherapy and teaching, MacKenzie masks and asks clients and students to do the same. She can provide N95s and/or rapid test before sessions upon request. Her office has HEPA air filtration and ventilation to keep the CO2 levels in the space below 750ppm. For clients who find masking interferes with their experience of therapy, often due to a need for more facial real estate for reading emotional cues, MacKenzie offers phone and video therapy, as well as outdoor walk-and-talk sessions (weather permitting).

Outside of work, MacKenzie uses a mix of masking, air cleaning, communal testing with throat swabs, wastewater tracking, nasal sprays like Enovid/virX, CPC mouthwashes, lifestyle modifications (hanging out with people with similar protections in place, no indoor dining, etc.) and outdoor gathering for "swiss cheese" protections.

Commitment to Inclusive Therapy

In all aspects of her life, including your work together, MacKenzie commits to communicating without reinforcing systems of oppression. 

MacKenzie will accept and support you regardless of what you say or do. She won't judge you for consensual expressions of your identity or sexuality. She won't judge you for your mistakes. MacKenzie believes being accepted as you are creates a safe enough space from which to move toward growth. MacKenzie is attuned to the dynamics of oppression, privilege, and systemic power structures, understanding their intricate intersections in our lives. She is committed to work that weakens these systems of domination and fosters empowerment as you heal and grow.

Affiliations