LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapists in San Jose, CA

Hello! Welcome to the private practice of Albert Pignataro, MFT. I am a licensed marriage and family therapist (MFC 53486) practicing in Willow Glen, San Jose. I have over 9 years of experience providing therapy to adults, youth and families in individual therapy, couples counseling, and group therapy. I work with hetero and LGBTQ + clients, and I normally work with adults and young adults (ages 18-25+). I provide a safe and non-judgmental therapeutic setting to my clients to explore what moves them to reach for healing and growth.

Are you feeling overwhelmed living your everyday life amid the backdrop of an ongoing pandemic? Do you wish to be more well-adjusted, engaged, and find balance in your life? Are you open to trying therapy to gain insight and self-awareness to maximize your potential? If so, let’s begin your therapeutic journey together. I have over 15 years of experience in the areas of mental health, family work, and youth services.

You can be yourself and live the fulfilling life you desire. Life doesn’t have to feel like a struggle. You don’t need to live with anxiety, self-doubt, or self-sabotaging behaviors. You can learn to overcome your specific emotional and situational challenges so you can thrive now and in the future. You don’t have to work through your problems on your own. As a licensed psychologist, I understand the importance of listening and working collaboratively, so you can overcome the challenges you face.

I am a gay and male identified therapist who specializes in LGBTQ issues, employment stress, young adults (20-35 years old), and childhood trauma. If you are looking to reduce shame, anxiety, depression, symptoms of trauma, self criticism, frustration, loneliness, isolation, worrying, and hyper-vigilance, among other stresses, I may be a good fit for you. I help people access mindful states of safety and self nurturing. Once in this state of calmness, clarity, and compassion, I help people discover inner harmony and peace.

I specialize in helping people who know what changes need to be made, but who struggle with knowing how to make them: whether it is with food, relationships, self-harm or addictions. My method is primarily skills based: I accept what you bring in, and then we work together toward change. I am experienced with mood, anxiety and thought disorders. I'm passionate about working with eating disorders, body image and LGBTQ + issues. I work well with adults, adolescents and groups. I strongly believe that developing a solid and collaborative therapeutic relationship is crucial to healing.

You try to do everything right and no matter how hard you try, it is never enough. You are anxious, questioning yourself, overthinking things, struggling with your relationship, and feeling distressed. If you are married, you feel that you have lost each other and your marriage has derailed. You are confused and do not know what to do. You are tired of feeling trapped in a life where people misunderstand you, which then makes you doubt yourself. You are ready to seek support, cultivate a meaningful relationship, and change your life so that you can start believing in yourself again.

Feeling like no one understands what you are going through and wondering where to turn? When dealing with life's struggles, no matter how big or small, we often wish we could find someone who understands, is supportive, takes the time to listen, and who will help create a safe and supportive environment and build a trusting relationship to help navigate through life's twists and turns.

WELCOME to Gaylesta: The Psychotherapist Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity. Our members provide mental health services including therapist referrals, education, and consultation. We offer a wide range of specializations, allowing us to serve as a unique resource both the LGBTQ communities and to other service providers. Explore our site to find a therapist, learn more about us, or become a valued member.

I provide a supportive/safe place for growth/empowerment through education, training, and therapy so clients can grow as they gain perspective, skills, and self-efficacy to improve their lives. I welcome people with learning, social, gender/sex/sexuality, neuro-diverse or medical concerns. I honor APA/WPATH standards of care for Trans / Queer /Non Binary/Expansive/Agender people. A professor of Biological Psychology, Mental Health (in Nursing Programs), Microbiology with a focus in endocrinology and pharmacology, and 9/22 completing a PhD in Human Sexuality (Gender) at CIIS, SF I offer a broad integrated approach to empower clients.

Are you experiencing communication challenges in your relationships? Challenges with sex or intimacy? Are you questioning or exploring gender and sexuality? I am here to support you and offer you tools and a place to process your current experience. I provide a safe space to explore who you are becoming and to discern old thought patterns that are no longer of service. I provide a healing space free of judgement and I offer tools that you can immediately implement and integrate into your current experience. I will collaborate with you and work dynamically with the intersections of your unique experience.

In our work together, my intention will be to help you break away from the maladaptive thought patterns, emotions, actions, and external circumstances that keep you stuck in an experience you don’t want to be having. My goal is to help you create progress towards the life you do want for yourself. I’ll want to understand the changes you’d like to see in yourself. I’ll want us to identify the behaviors you’d like to execute more often, the chronic emotions you’d like to experience, and the outcomes you’d like to see present themselves in your life. With that information, we'll set the progressive steps & overall goals for therapy.

Therapy is most effective as a collaborative process in which your needs and desires for growth are prioritized. The foundation of my approach to therapy stems from the wholehearted belief that our bodyminds, those seemingly interminable knots of body and psyche, are orientated towards liberation. As much as we may desire freedom from those things that provoke suffering in our lives, we also desire the freedom to imagine new futures.

Do you need help to make changes in your life? My main areas of interest & experience include parenting issues, LGBTQ issues, sexual abuse, trauma (childhood & recent), marriage/relationship problems, depression, ADHD, & career counseling. I have worked with individuals, couples, and families from diverse cultures, ethnicities, and sexual/gender orientation. My work with you begins by providing a safe and non-judging place for you to talk about your needs. We will work together to help you make positive changes in your life. I am happy to answer any questions about how I work and how therapy might work for you.

I am honored to work with you/your loved ones and provide support wherever you find yourself in life. I will be right by your side as a fellow human being. If you are looking to build your toolbox and develop your sense of empowerment to navigate this world, then we can work on that together. We will work together to build a therapeutic relationship. Relationships are where healing can happen. Together, we can carry your traumas, fears, and anxieties in holistic and traditional approaches. If you’d like to take a step, contact me today for a consultation.

I enjoy working with couples, families and individuals. Couples and families often struggle to see eye-to-eye on critical issues. I can help reduce conflict and blow-ups by restoring affection and admiration and teaching tools to help turn adversaries into allies. I have experience helping those going through significant life changes that may force them to think hard about who they are and what they want. These changes could involve leaving home, divorce, marriage, having a baby, starting a new job, quitting a job, finding a life partner, exploring sexuality or gender identity, etc.

Are you between the ages of 18-45 and struggling with life? College giving you heart palpitations? Work break dancing on your last nerve? Are you tired of people questioning your identity or maybe you are just questioning your own? Do people not accept you, for YOU? Do you struggle to set boundaries with others? Are you depressed, lonely, isolated, or feel like you have been lost in Tik-Tok land? Has your anxiety gotten so overwhelming that you lost track of time chatting on Discord or watching YouTube videos? Did you finally leave your house to attend Pride only to return with a sunburn and Covid? Call me, let's talk!

NOW accepting NEW Telehealth clients. My ideal client is an adult/couple that has a desire to learn and grow, is not afraid to get into the tough stuff, and appreciates when I am real with them/challenge their thinking in order to support growth and a new perspective. I value it when a client is honest about what is helpful/not as I believe we are on this journey together. My areas of focus include depression, relationship challenges, LGBTQIA and sexuality, and addiction although we may address much more based on what you bring to the session and have as a goal.

Sudden and dramatic life transitions can rock our world, causing us to frequently feel disoriented and unsettled. Whether such moments are encountered through loss of a loved one, divorce, trauma, substance recovery or something equally profound, ones faith, meaning, purpose, and direction is often called on as a means to sustain us. I welcome the opportunity to work with you to heuristically discover and strengthen your inner-self and potentiality.

I went into the mental health field because I believe in the strength of the human soul. I have witnessed strength, resiliency and hope in my clients. I place emphasis on building a supportive, safe environment in which one can tell his/her/their story. In building this safe relationship, one can learn to feel and express his/her/their feelings. Once rebuilding a sense of security, one can learn to trust themselves and begin to make changes in his/her/their life. My goal is to empower my clients so that they can believe in themselves and their ability to make positive changes in their lives.