Dee Dee Goldpaugh, LCSW
(they/them)
Psychotherapist, Clinical Director
www.deedeegoldpaugh.com
Queer, Non-binary
Dee Dee provides compassionate care that prioritizes the innate healing intelligence of each client. They specialize in working with survivors of trauma, with an emphasis on sexual and relational abuse survivors, and people from queer and gender-diverse communities. Dee Dee uses insight-oriented approaches paired with somatic and trauma interventions tailored to each client's individual needs. They are trained in Psychodynamic Therapy, Sex Therapy, EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Psychedelic Integration Psychotherapy. Their approach to psychotherapy is both strengths-based and pleasure-centered.
Dee Dee is the Clinical Director of Chrysalis Integrative Psychotherapy, a psychotherapist, educator, clinical supervisor, author, and heart-centered activist. They have taught and published widely on the topics of psychedelics, sexuality, trauma, gender, and spirituality. They have been a leading voice in the development of Psychedelic Integration Psychotherapy techniques, specifically with survivors of trauma and have published the first article to appear in an academic journal, Sexual and Relationship Therapy, exploring the intersection of sexuality, spirituality, and psychedelic integration.
Dee Dee offers Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy as part of the team at the Woodstock Therapy Center and facilitates ketamine-assisted therapy retreats. Additionally, they are a Clinical Supervisor on a research trial using a psilocybin analogue to treat major depressive disorder using the EMBARK psychedelic-assisted therapy approach. They have also completed the MAPS training in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Dee Dee is the author of the forthcoming book Embrace Pleasure: How Psychedelics Can Heal Our Sexuality being published by Inner Traditions in Summer of 2025.
Dee Dee has been a presenter in the Sex Therapy Collaborative and a faculty instructor in the Trauma Therapy program at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy. They have presented at The Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research (ICPR), The Alt Sex Conference Speaker’s Series, The Center for Optimal Living, Ante Up! and are contributing author in the book Queering Psychedelics. They have been featured in articles by Vice Magazine, Chacruna, The Albany Times Union, Medium, Brides, Psymposia, Refinery 29, and Psychology Today. Dee Dee holds a Master’s Degree from the Hunter College School of Social Work. They have received post-graduate training at the C.J. Jung Foundation, Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, the Parnell Institute, and have additional training in Internal Family Systems Psychotherapy. Dee Dee is a student of shamanic healing, bioregional herbal medicine and has attended intensive guide training through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy guides.
Tristan Bennett, LMSW
(she/they/he)
Psychotherapist
www.therapywithtristan.nyc
Queer, Gender-expansive
I feel extraordinarily fortunate to be connecting with you about doing this work together. It is something I take very seriously and try to practice joyfully. Therapy, both in the receiving and the giving, has enriched my life beyond measure. It is my job to share some of that with you.
I view therapy as a collaborative endeavor. I work with clients in a way that values non-hierarchy and I will be there to support your journey, the path of which is determined by you. My role is to help us determine the goals you’d like to focus on during our work together and to support our mutual accountability in working toward those goals. We are a team and you’re in charge. We go where you want, how you want, and when you want.
My work is trauma-informed, both by training and lived experience. I am fascinated by the interior landscapes described in psychodynamic theory and the potential for inner healing and wisdom written in those peaks and valleys. I also hold a deep interest in the parts work approach of Internal Family Systems. Finally, I employ Cognitive Behavioral Therapy when appropriate.
I was not born a therapist. I have been a working poet and a public school teacher, a construction worker and a guide for transpersonal healing work. I have run a community bike shop in New Orleans and led a team of Water Protectors in service to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. I have helped to organize and build large festivals like Burning Man and I have managed a food pantry in Portland. By necessity I am steeped in harm reduction and crisis intervention methods. Helping those experiencing difficulty in their relationship with drugs and alcohol is a special interest of mine.
I came of age as an activist in the queer punk communities of post-Katrina New Orleans. I carry many of those values into my work as a therapist. I identify as queer, gender-expansive, and sex positive. My approach is open and understanding of all expressions of consensual relatedness and cognizant of the unique challenges faced by those navigating queerness in America today
A native of New York City, I hold a Master’s Degree in Social Work from New York University where I founded the Student Association for Psychedelic Studies. While at NYU I also conceived of and co-produced the annual NYU Symposium on Psychedelic Justice, a conference centering anti-oppressive and anti-capitalist voices in the psychedelic community.
Wherever you land on your journey, and though we’ve never met, I’m excited for you.
You can do it.
Gail Smith, MHC-LP
(she/her)
Psychotherapist
Queer, Bisexual Allied
Our identities deserve celebration, not constraint. As a queer, Chinese-American therapist from Hong Kong, my work is a reflection of my own intersecting identities. I know what it’s like to navigate complex layers of expectation, community, and self-discovery, and my passion lies in supporting BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ individuals on similar journeys. My focus areas include navigating familial and cultural expectations, exploring gender identity, healing from grief and loss, and addressing challenges like anxiety, depression, perfectionism, and body image.
I believe that the more you know, the more you grow. Knowledge is empowerment, and therapy can be a place for uncovering the patterns of our past while celebrating who we are now. Together, we’ll dive into what matters most to you—your values, passions, and purpose. Growth begins here: exploring the big questions that shape us. What are my deepest fears and dreams? What do I care about most? How do I want to show up in this world? By connecting with what truly resonates, we uncover a path that aligns with your unique self.
In our work, I prioritize the creation of personal meaning as essential to well-being. This isn’t about arriving at one “right” answer; it’s about discovering a sense of direction that feels authentic to you. Whether you come in with a strong sense of who you are or feel like you’re just beginning, we’ll co-create a way of being that honors your truest self.
I hold an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University, where I was psychodynamically trained. I also bring a background as an ethnographer and documentary filmmaker, with projects focused on cultural belonging and youth activism in Hong Kong. As a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC) and a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA), I integrate psychodynamic, CBT, Somatic Experiencing, existential, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Family Systems Therapy into our sessions. This flexible approach allows me to tailor our work together based on your unique needs.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re interested in learning more.
Christina Tesoro, LCSW
(they/she)
Psychotherapist
www.janistherapy.com
Queer, non-binary/two-spirit (qariwarmi), mixed race, trauma survivor, sex worker affirming, single parent
Christina practices a blend of somatic and relational therapy. In session, this looks like drawing attention to present-moment somatic experiences as well as the developing therapeutic relationship in order to cultivate deeper insight and a greater sense of agency & well-being outside of the container of therapy. Their therapeutic approach is rooted in decolonial, trauma-informed and pleasure-focused values.
Their commitment to anti-oppressive and decolonial work is directly shaped by their own lived experience as the biracial child raised by an indigenous mother and a white father. Through their own lineage, Christina understands the pain of assimilation for survival that many immigrants grapple with upon relocating to the United States. Simultaneously, as a fourth generation Italian American, Christina also knows well the willful assimilation to the construct of whiteness in order to consolidate proximity to power, and the subsequent grief and fragmentation of identity that is the price of this type of self and ancestral abandonment. Guided by the work and wisdom of healers, writers, and cultural workers such as Resmaa Menakem, Mia Birdsong, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, as well as the ancestral knowing of their own two-spirit embodiment, Christina is adept at holding the complexity of both/and, as well as facilitating the rich and integral process of rupture and repair, in which therapist and client both honor the fullness of our humanity – our fallibility and capacity to cause harm, as well as our inherent ability to heal in community and right relationship with each other.
Christina is former LAMBDA Literary Fellow (2015) and two-time judge of the LAMBDA Literary Awards for Queer Young Adult Fiction. In 2018 and 2020, they served as a Fellow for the Sex Worker Giving Circle, a grantmaking initiative by and for current and former sex workers hosted by Third Wave Fund. In 2020 they released their self-published eBook Death to Whorephobia: A Guide to Sex Worker Affirming Care, an adaptation of their Master’s level thesis research. They are the co-editor of Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex (2023), and have contributed to numerous anthologies, including The Edge of Sex: Navigating A Sexually Confusing Culture from the Margins (2020), Bisexuality Beyond Binaries: Celebrating Multiple Bisexual Identities in A World of Erasure, and The People’s Book of Human Sexuality: Expanding the Sexuality Archive (2024). Christina has also been published at Autostraddle, Medium’s Forge, Catapult, PS Mag, and The Toast, and has guested on several podcasts, including Esther Perel’s “How’s Work?” and NPR’s LifeKit.
Christina is Level 1 Certified in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy through Pat Ogden’s Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a certified holistic sex educator through the Institute for Sexuality Education and Enlightenment. As of 2023, they are also pursuing certification in Family Constellations, a modality of energy work focused on shifting and healing intergenerational trauma.
They received their Master of Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Work in 2019. Christina also considers their years as a queer sex worker as central to their clinical expertise, and their dedication to pleasure and joy as sources of immense power, community building, and healing. Birthed by queer sex worker community, their work will always be devoted to sexual liberation, sex work decriminalization, and asserting our audacious right to pleasure, joy, and vibrant, life-giving, authentic expressions of love.