Cadyn Cathers
(he/him/his)
Licensed Psychologist – PSY 32839
Identities:
- Genderful transgender man
- Bisexual
- Ambiamorous
- Disabled
- Neurodivergent
- 2nd generation Polish American
I began my journey towards becoming a psychotherapist in January 2009 when I started my MA in clinical psychology with an LGBT Specialization and health psychology concentration at Antioch University Los Angeles. I completed my MFT traineeship at the LA LGBT Center.
I expected to become a cognitive behavioral therapists (CBT) or skill based therapist due my background in the sciences. However, as I was working with clients, I felt like the work was too limited. It reduced people down to behavior rather than the expansiveness that human experience can offer. I was also dealing with a lot of vicarious traumatization as a newly out transgender person as a new therapist. Within a few months of becoming a therapist trainee, I began my own psychoanalysis as a control case for a psychoanalytic candidate. The work transformed my clinical work and my personal life. It inspired me to continue my training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Many of my doctorate courses there focused on psychoanalytic psychotherapy and were taught by psychoanalysts. My dissertation, although quantitative in methodology, was inspired by psychoanalytic ideas; I explored the therapeutic alliance between a cisgender therapist and a transgender patient. In order to further my training, I completed a 1-year certificate in psychoanalytic training at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in 2014. I also sought supervision and consultation from psychoanalytic therapists and psychoanalysts. I continue my training through conferences, reading journals and books, and ongoing consultation. I’m also still in multiple days a week psychoanalysis for my personal and professional growth.
In addition, I founded The Affirmative Couch in 2018. The Affirmative Couch provides online continuing education for psychotherapists on working with LGBTQIA+, consensually non-monogamous, and kinky clients and provides organizational development consulting for clinics to become more affirmative.