Ray White

Hello! I’m Ray, a queer, trans, and neurodivergent therapist with a dual background in Art Therapy. I’m a rural transplant who loves nature and exploring the green spaces of Chicago. My approach to therapy stems from my eclectic education and fosters curiosity, creativity, and compassion. I use a trauma-informed and strengths-based lens informed by social justice, intersectionality, and values that oppose capitalist and colonialist frameworks.

I believe stories are important: the stories we tell ourselves and each other, the narratives we receive from the world around us, as well as the cultural stories we learn. Therapy can offer a unique space to explore social constructs, challenge norms and myths, and investigate our beliefs (beliefs about ourselves, our identity, our relationships, the world). It’s especially important to center the lives and stories of those who have experienced (and are experiencing) erasure and historical violence across diasporas of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and every level of ability.

For anyone interested, I bring art or somatic bodywork into therapy. Since learning is diverse I like to honor auditory, visual, spatial, and kinesthetic needs (I’m a visual and kinesthetic learner myself). Art serves many purposes within therapy: art-making allows us to sit with emotions, it can help when we are over-intellectualizing or over-controlling of ourselves, and making things can push us out of our comfort zone (just to name a few of the ways expressive arts can be therapeutic).

I like to begin therapy by asking questions and establishing trust, collaborating on goals informed by your needs and interests. My hope is to create a space where you feel comfortable sharing what is (and isn’t) working for you. Ultimately, the therapy experience will be unique to your personal journey. I view my role as a therapist is to act as an encouraging guide and reliable resource for you while emphasizing grace, patience, and self-compassion.