Jack Kemp

I have personal lived experience with panic attacks, suicidality, homelessness, divorce, ADHD, autism, borderline personality disorder, dysphoria, abusive relationships, religious trauma, parent loss, and chronic health issues. First-hand knowledge brings something to the table that textbooks can't.

I specialize in working with nonbinary trans folks, and all kinds of queers, as well as other identities/lifestyles experiencing similar "othering" (stereotyping/judgment) such as polyamory, kink, and sex work.

One of my goals is to provide an experience where you don't have to explain concepts that are part of your everyday life, like how your HRT works, or the difference between polyamory, swinging, and polygamy.

Along those same lines, I want you to know that feeling afraid in the US and in Texas right now is not a disordered experience, but a reasonable response to a truly terrifying time. I won't act like you're overreacting or expect you to pretend you feel differently than you do about politicians, corporations, and cops. (I also won't care if you cuss in session, authentic expression of emotion is the goal here, not censorship)

If you'd like to meet with me, please message me at 414-622-0241! The Headway scheduling system has been malfunctioning for me, and to avoid double-booking I am managing all appointments manually.

My style is very personal and relational, especially since I have a lot of shared identities with my clients, and being able to provide normalization and validation from lived experience can be very beneficial. I want you to feel "they actually get what I'm saying, they aren't just nodding along" when you're talking about an autistic meltdown or how executive function activates your depression or how frustrated you are with yourself that you fell back into an old pattern of behavior that you know better but it's just so hard to make that changed habit consistent.

Therapeutic goals will be based on your priorities and desires, and I enthusiastically welcome feedback about our sessions and my technique to help tailor the experience to your needs. If I ever seem to have a trajectory that doesn't align with yours, I want to know so I can reorient.

We may work on emotional regulation, relationship dynamics, communication and conflict resolution techniques, internalized beliefs, or even just processing what happened since last week.

We might dig deep into how something you just complained about with your partner seems like it could be related to a trauma you mentioned from a past dynamic, or we may spend time talking about why you feel so validated and seen by the characters in a TV show you're watching, and what that can tell you about what you believe about yourself, and whether you want to instill more of those qualities, or maybe you just need to learn how to accept them within you.

You might be surprised how much challenging of worldviews and reframing perspectives we can do in conversations that don't feel clinical and formal.

I open my consultation by explaining basic boiler plate stuff, in human words. I know you just signed forms about it, but I want to make sure you actually know what you need to know before we get going.

Then we have options - I can tell you about me (although most of what I say in that blurb is written in this profile, with better editing), you can ask me questions about my qualifications, experience, and knowledge, I can ask you questions based on what you wrote in your intake paperwork, or you can launch into telling me why you're wanting therapy right now. I like to make sure