Charla Bigelow, Graduate Clinician in Clinical Mental Health Counseling 

Charla Bigelow is a graduate student in Walden University's CACREP-accredited Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, pursuing a career at the intersection of relational care, sexual wellness, and social justice. Their clinical interests are shaped by years of personal and intellectual engagement with queer communities, trauma, identity, and the ways systemic harm shows up in the body and in relationship. Charla’s approach centers cultural humility, systemic accountability, and an ongoing commitment to challenging the dominant narratives that too often harm the people therapy is meant to serve.

Many people who need support have been failed by systems that were never designed to accommodate them, therapy included. This is especially true for those from groups that have been historically discriminated against. LGBTQIA+ individuals, trans and nonbinary people, trauma survivors, and neurodivergent clients often walk into therapeutic spaces carrying not just their personal pain, but the additional burden of wondering whether they'll be truly seen, or quietly asked to make themselves smaller to fit a framework that wasn't built for them.

I offer care that works from a decolonizing, trauma-informed, and identity affirming lens that is grounded in the belief that the individual is the expert of their own experience, that strength is gained through autonomy, and healing happens in relationship. My therapeutic philosophy draws from my modalities such as IFS, Narrative Therapy, Relational-Cultural Theory, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I work collaboratively and flexibly, following the client’s lead rather than imposing a predetermined path.  

I strive to create an environment that empowers clients to leave our work together with a restored sense of agency and a deeper relationship with their authenticity.

❋ Client Focus

  • Individuals

  • Couples

  • Chosen families

  • LGBTQIA+ clients

  • Trans and nonbinary clients

  • Trauma survivors

  • Neurodivergent individuals

  • Adults

❋ Types of therapy and frameworks I draw inspiration from:

  • Internal Family Systems (IFS)

  • Narrative Therapy

  • Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT)

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT),

  • Trauma-informed care

❋ Issues

  • Trauma

  • Anxiety

  • Depression

  • Identity

  • Shame

  • Neurodivergence

❋ Specialties

  • Sexual and relational wellness

  • Gender identity and transition support

  • Kink and polyamory affirmative care

  • Intimacy and pleasure

  • Systemic and racialized trauma

  • Queer and trans mental health

Favorite quote

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

— Maya Angelou

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