Janine Leki, LCMFT

Board Approved Non-LCPC Supervisor

Pronouns: they/them and she/her

Hi there! I know the process of finding and starting therapy with a new clinician, whether you’re a therapy newbie or an experienced pro, involves a lot of tough decision making and vulnerable self-disclosure. That first meeting and intake process can feel overwhelming, intimidating, and sometimes even awkward as you share your life story with a complete stranger. Trust and safety take time and a whole lot of effort to establish, and can feel out of reach with past traumas and hurts in the way.

My experience and evolution as a therapist and as a person has informed my belief in the importance of therapeutic self-disclosure. I see value in directly addressing and disrupting the inherent information imbalance present in a provider/client dynamic. To empower folks to decide whether I may be a good fit as a potential therapist (or supervisor), let me take some space to introduce myself as transparently as possible.

I received my Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy in Denver, CO. At the time I was most interested in working with kids and families and so I trained to be a play therapist. Through a variety of experiences in residential, in-home, school-based, and outpatient settings I slowly widened my scope of practice to include trauma processing (EMDR), couples/relationship therapy, and more diverse age ranges. In 2019 I moved to Baltimore, MD with my wife and my cat. I’ve spent the last few years riding the waves of the pandemic as a therapist and supervisor, completing a year-long sex therapy training at The University of Michigan, and developing the professional confidence needed to start my own private practice.

I encourage my clients to bring their whole selves to our therapy space and I try to do the same. I focus on providing therapy to queer clients because I have lived experience as a queer person and I know first hand what it’s like to crave shared understanding with a provider. To that end, there are a number of identities I hold that may impact our therapeutic relationship and space - some of these include being White, college educated, raised as a woman, a parent, a partner in a monogamous marriage, and living with anxiety and depression. When I’m not working I’m spending time with my family, traveling, teaching woodworking classes at Station North Tool Library, playing softball, or trying my hand at novice beekeeping.

Squib, Sprout & Phineas

Sprout (all black), Phineas (tuxedo), and Squib (tabby) are an important part of the treatment team. They offer ill-timed and dubiously researched interventions such as blocking the camera, vomiting in a corner of the room, and incessant meowing.