I approach the therapeutic relationship deeply informed by the principles of transformative justice and abolitionist practices. I practice an integrative somatic therapy for trauma treatment, which includes the varied methodologies of EMDR, Internal Family Systems / parts work, CBT, DBT, and trauma-informed mindfulness. I primarily work with transgender, gender-expansive, pansexual, bisexual and/or queer people. The lack of therapists who could affirm my queerness and transness, who had even a cursory analysis of the impacts of race, racial oppression / white supremacy, who could extend therapeutic approaches beyond thinking to the entire soma– these were the motivating factors that drove me to become the kind of therapist to whom I did not have access.

There are, of course, limits to the extent individual therapy can alleviate chronic stress. The conditions we exist in are traumatic. I believe that healing must happen simultaneously on the levels of individual, communal, and societal.

I currently practice therapy through the Institute for Personal Growth. If you are interested in a setting up a free consultation, please contact me. This will consist of a phone call of approximately 10-15 minutes for us to see if this is a good therapeutic fit. If you’re ready to begin sessions, you can contact the IPG office at 800.379.9220 and request to work with Alexandra Axel. If you are transgender and experiencing financial insecurity, please let the office know and we will do our best to work with you. I believe therapy means very little if it is inaccessible by financially marginalized people. Please feel welcome to contact me to work out access to therapy.

I am licensed social worker in so-called New Jersey, a beloved place to me although the land exists within artificially drawn colonial borders. Please acknowledge and support the past, present, and future existence and resistance of the Lenape (Lunaape) people.