What is a chosen family?
Life’s challenges can be overwhelming; everyone deserves a space to feel heard and supported. At Roamers Therapy, we provide trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, LGBTQIA+ affirming, and evidence-based environments to help you heal, grow, and navigate your mental well-being journey. As your psychotherapist, we are here to guide you every step of the way.
A chosen family consists of people within a support network who fulfill the roles of support, teaching, comfort, and kinship. Chosen families are meant to pull people together and have fluidity and adaptability to an individual’s specific role. A chosen family can be as specific as having a chosen mother, father, sibling, cousin based on age, personality, and the nature of the relationship. The roles can also be vague, where not everyone’s role is spelled out. Chosen family has a broad definition on purpose, allowing for the flexibility to expand beyond biological ties or societal labels, actively honoring the relationship and its significance.
How did the term chosen family come about?
A found family or a chosen family is made up of people who intentionally choose to embrace, nurture, and support one another regardless of their biological connection. It is a common term within the queer community where individuals, who have left or have been abandoned by their biological family, create a sense of community and care. This is especially important because many queer youth, after coming out, experience homelessness and lack support, safety, and love.
Find the Best Therapist in Chicago to Strengthen Connections with Your Chosen Family
One’s chosen family honors a range of experiences and relationships that are part of an individual’s lived experience, building acknowledgement, care, and support outside of the bounds of legal and social norms, that may not be applicable or appealing to “traditional” family structures. Thus, finding and nurturing a chosen family is an active process where one can experience safety, support, love, joy, and belonging.
At Roamers Therapy, our psychotherapists are here to support you through anxiety, depression, trauma and relationship issues, race-ethnicity issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, ADHD, Autism, or any challenges you encounter. Our psychotherapists are trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Acceptance, and Commitment Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, and Gottman Therapy.
Whether you’re seeking guidance on a specific issue or need help navigating difficult emotions, we’re ready to assist you every step of the way.
Contact us today to learn more about our services and schedule a session with our mental health professionals to begin your healing journey. To get started with therapy, visit our booking page.
First, decide if you’ll be paying out-of-pocket or using insurance. If you’re a self-pay client, you can book directly through the “Book Now” page or fill out the “Self-Pay/Out-of-network Inquiry Form.” If you’re using insurance, fill out the “Insurance Verification Form” to receive details about your costs and availability. Please let us know your preferred therapist. If your preferred therapist isn’t available, you can join the waitlist by emailing us. Once your appointment is confirmed, you’ll receive intake documents to complete before your first session.
This page is also part of the Roamers Therapy Glossary; a collection of mental-health related definitions that are written by our therapists.
While our offices are currently located at the South Loop neighborhood of Downtown Chicago, Illinois, we also welcome and serve clients for online therapy from anywhere in Illinois and Washington, D.C. Clients from the Chicagoland area may choose in-office or online therapy and usually commute from surrounding areas such as River North, West Loop, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Little Village, Bronzeville, South Shore, Hyde Park, Back of the Yards, Wicker Park, Bucktown and many more. You can visit our contact page to access detailed information on our office location.