Hi, I’m Rae,
a licensed therapist, certified sex therapist, gender specialist, coach, educator, and author. I’m the Founder and CEO of Practical Audacity, a Gender & Sex Therapy practice in Chicago, Illinois.
I’m also nonbinary and use they/them pronouns. Like many of you, the journey of discovering my nonbinary identity was anything but a straight line.
I support trans and nonbinary folks feeling anxious about transitions in sex, gender, sexual identity, or relationships through my clinical therapy practice and group coaching programs.
In addition…
I provide speaking engagements, trainings, and higher education to corporations, nonprofits, and universities who are interested in learning more about how to include further LGBTQ+ support systems in their DEI programs & initiatives.
As the adopted child of a conservative, religious family in the South, the message that you could be loved, accepted, and seen for all of who you are was often couched in the unsaid caveat of “as long as…” I grew up in a culture that said: “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
This version of love never made sense to me.
I did always know that I wasn't happy with the box I was supposed to fit into and I found ways to express that even as a young teen. After undergrad, I put down roots in Chicago for graduate school, focused all my work on the LGBTQ+ population, and discovered that I enjoyed working with transgender folks in particular.
I founded Practical Audacity Gender & Sex Therapy in 2018 and we quickly expanded to a group of 16+ clinicians serving the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized populations. I am proud to say that we are able to serve 300+ clients a year that come to us specifically because they want a place to feel safe and affirmed when talking about mental health concerns.
The Technical Stuff
I hold a Master of Education in Community Counseling from DePaul University in Chicago and is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois. I graduated from the University of Michigan’s Sexual Health Certificate Program with specializations in Sex Therapy and Sexuality Education and am a Certified Sex Therapist through the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists.
I created the Gender Freedom Model™ that takes everything that I know from years of working with trans/non-binary/questioning folks, the latest research, my lived experience, and clinical best practices to create a strengths-based model of gender transition that centers on ease, joy, and personal discovery instead of anxiety, self-doubt, and suffering.