Meet Renée
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, SIFI Certified
Hi! I'm happy you're exploring counseling!
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I believe in the power and necessity of queer and trans people as a vital part of our community's ecosystem, worthy of celebration and reverence. Through collaboration together, we'll work to identify your strengths and build the right environment for you to grow and thrive.
I'm a queer/ genderqueer, Boricua decendent (Puerto Rican/ Taino), born and raised in mainland US in Washington D.C. (unceded Piscataway, Pamunkey, the Nentego (Nanichoke), Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Monacan, and Powhatan land). I hold a master’s degree in social work from NYU, with a focus in sexuality and gender, and have been privileged to support LGBTQ+ adults and youth for over a decade through trauma-informed and harm-reduction care practices, including formal training in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. I'm also on a personal growth journey of anti-racism and neurodiversity affirming care. I'm trained as a Horticultural Therapist through the NY Botanical Gardens, and bring the lessons of nature into my psychotherapeutic work.
It's with care and intention that I continue to work and receive training to better serve my community.
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Pronouns: they/ them
NY License #087077
CT License #11982
Certified in Therapeutic Horticulture through NYBG
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Photo by Carly Zavala
Offerings
What I can help with
Individual Therapy
Individual therapy is a way for you to clarify your goals, heal from past trauma or pain, and identify your inner resilience. This is a collaboration, where you can become better acquainted with yourself. Counseling may be short- or long-term, with frequency determined by your needs.
Supervision
I am SIFI certified for MSW students and have supervised LMSWs towards their clinical hours and licensing. I conduct supervision with a specific focus in queer-normative, trauma-informed, and neurodivergent affirming approaches to better help clients identify their inherent worth and value while navigating complex systems of oppression.
Rates for supervision available upon request, and tailored for you to achieve your career goals.
Trainings
Whether you're in nonprofit, community health, or a major hospital, all health and wellness caregivers can benefit by examining our internalized biases to ensure quality client care. My trainings focus on decolonizing the medical model, and self examination.
Gender-Affirming Letters
Insurance companies or surgeons may require letters for gender-affirming medical care from transgender and non-binary individuals who would otherwise not seek counseling.
I provide short-term support to ensure an intentional environment focusing on the safest, healthiest recovery within our control. Safety is a right.
I am a member of GALAP, and follow these guidelines, providing these letters at whatever cost you need to ensure your care.
Consultation
We all come to healing and health work with implicit biases that require constant consciousness and reflection. If your agency or practice is ready to do the deeper work to best support Queer and Trans communities, ongoing consultation may be right for you.
Rates provided upon request, and reduced rates are available for BIPOC businesses and those oppressed by gender.
Plant Therapy Workshops
As part of my work as a Horticultural Therapist, I aim to integrate the natural world in to experiential education and programming for youth and adults. In addition to running therapeutic horticulture groups, I also offer a series centering LGBTQ+ experiences or one off processing groups and workshops for your clients, staff, or families. Program creation is based on direct consultation with you to meet your goals.
The Queerness of Nature
Superbloom (n.)- a botanical act of resistance and resilience in otherwise uninhabitable terrain
“It’s not natural” is a phrase weaponized against queer and trans communities meant to dehumanize and pathologize us. We are hearing everyone from peers to politicians leverage the "unnatural-ness" of queer communities in an effort to erase the inherent diversity that is needed to maintain a balanced eco-system.
By celebrating the essential diversity required to maintain a healthy community, I hope to increase awareness to queer and trans community members, and in particular youth, about our importance, necessity, and power within society. Moreover, I aim to create educational spaces and workshop opportunities that connect the larger community to nature's ability to adapt, diversify, and build resilience in order to thrive.
This approach is built on the foundation of our ancestors and trans-cestors who saw plants, animals, and fungi as our teachers. Nature shows us:
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Diversity is a requirement for proliferation
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Adaptation and change creates space for forward movement
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Interconnectedness and cooperation builds resilience and sustainable support
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Leadership belongs to all
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Like us, all plants need different conditions and supports to thrive
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Health is rooted in prevention and wellness practices
Get In Touch
Contact Info
For safety, this practice is entirely virtual until otherwise noted.
Office suite number provided to established clients only.
Phone
Address
(347) 560-3725
Unceded Mohican and Munsee Lanapee Land
286 5th Ave., New York, NY 10001
Renée Reopell, LCSW does not provide on-call emergency service.
For mental health emergencies, please call 9-1-1/ 9-8-8 or go to your nearest emergency room.
For 24/7, confidential (non-trace) emotional support, please call the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860