manny kemphues
I am lucky to love my work. I love the creativity and presence it asks of me. I continue to be blown away by the trust and vulnerability that people offer me each session.
My first therapy job was as a rape crisis counselor. That work got me comfortable with answering the phone and having no idea what I was about to hear. It also forced me to learn how to take care of myself for the first time--a skill I've been continuing to dial in for years.
After 4 years of that, I applied to grad school because I wanted to be able to go deeper with people than immediate crisis management. After grad school, I spent 7 years at a community mental health center where I served a pretty wide range of low income folks. As one of the queer and trans people on staff, I (happily) ended up working with a lot of other queer and trans clients. I also had two side gigs working with LGBTQIA+ youth.
I started to develop those identities as my professional niche, but eventually realized that that wasn't a very good niche! Because those identities often had little to do with what my clients actually wanted to work on in therapy--they just wanted someone who wouldn't be weird or ignorant about those things while they worked on actual problems.
I was committed to the clients I already had, and didn't want to risk referring them out to people who wouldn't be able to hold their identities with care and expertise. So, after starting my private practice in 2023, I sought advanced training to be able to move my practice beyond gender-affirming care and the general trauma-informed existential-humanistic approach that I had been taking. Now, I have a highly specialized toolbelt that allows me to customize my approach to the unique intersections of your mental health struggles and neurotype.
Outside of my professional roles, I enjoy being a dabbler. I love to learn and crave variety and novelty, so I am often trying something new. I like movement, nature, and creative arts. I thrive with a balance of time with friends and community as well as low-stim time journaling, reading, or playing video games.
I am an active member of my neighborhood emergency preparedness and response team (in most cities this is called CERT) because I see it as a great structure for mutual aid, hyperlocal organizing, and preparing for all kinds of possible futures.
I spent five years organizing against the prison industrial complex with Critical Resistance Los Angeles, before finding a more sustainable and impactful role for myself within social change ecosystems.
If we work together, you might meet my cat Sugar, but probably not my extremely anxious Aussie, Magic.
some qualifications
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional - Level II
Trauma Model Therapy Level II Trained
Gender ASSET 2.0 Trained
