Nathan MacRae
MSW, RSW
Nathan MacRae,
MSW, RSW
My name is Nathan. I am a queer-identified trans person who is passionate about giving back to my community and making the world a safer space for non-normative identities.
My Story
I am a Registered Social Worker who practices between my two home provinces of Ontario and British Columbia providing counselling to adults and young adults with trans/gender-diverse/queer identities, sexual orientations, and folks who within non-monogamous communities. I also counsel partner(s) looking to better support loved ones with these identities or folks interested in working with someone who understands their identity.
I humbly live, work and play on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, colonially known as Victoria, BC with my wife. I enjoy hot yoga, cycling out to Sooke or along the coast, hiking local trails. I am constantly reading counselling books, queer poetry and scary stories, and listening to supernatural podcasts in my downtime. Ask me anything about Sasquatches!
Getting outdoors, exercising, practicing meditation, spending time with my family and maintaining my sobriety are my favourite ways I care for my mental health.
"I am out with lanterns, looking for myself."
-Emily Dickenson
My Approach
There is a path forward to a fulfilling and happy future for everyone. Working together, I can support you in cultivating compassion for yourself and others, taking pride in who you are, navigating relationships and moving through the difficulties that arise in life. Through an anti-oppressive, trauma-informed and intersectional framework, I support the queer, trans, kink, and non-monogamous communities in unpacking identity, sex and relationship issues, emotional dysregulation, trauma, depression, anxiety and addiction.
I take an integrated approach to my practice, pulling from a variety of modalities including some elements of DBT, mindfulness, self-compassion, and short-term solution-focused, strength-based client-centred counselling. I am passionate about somatic attachment therapy which focuses on the lasting impacts of relational trauma on the body and its effects on everyday life. I believe in tuning into the body to help regulate the nervous system to allow for deep exploration of one’s experiences of self and the world.
My role as a counsellor is to work collaboratively with you, drawing on your strengths, providing psychoeducation, and finding adaptable solutions to help you lead a more fulfilling life. I believe in putting experiences into contexts, not boxes, and am deeply critical of pathologizing ways and being and responses to trauma. Guided by your goals, I offer understanding, insight and accountability in your journey. It is my greatest honour to sit with clients in the darkness, joy and monotony that makes up life in this world.
My services are covered by most extended health plans. **Please note I do not work with youth or persons under 18 or families.
"I think I knew right then, but sometimes knowing comes in layers."
-Leslie Feinberg
My Training & Experience
I hold a Bachelor's Degree from Simon Fraser University in Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies and a Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Victoria. I am a Registered Social Worker in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. I have also completed the Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level 1, the Sexually Competent Therapist Training with Allura Sex Therapy Centre and Essentials of CBT and CBT for Anxiety with the Beck Institute.
I am currently completing the Somatic Attachment Psychotherapy Two Year Training with Bringing the Body into Practice.
I come to this practice with over 13 years of experience in mental and health and addiction services, including:
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Various organizations in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
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The Kelty Mental Health Center at the BC Women and Children's Hospital
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Psychiatric Emergency Services at the Royal Jubilee Hospital
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The Catherine Assertive Community Treatment Team at the Royal Mental Health Centre
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Flexible Assertive Community Treatment Team - Dual Diagnosis at the Royal Mental Health Centre
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Family Information and Support Services at the Royal Mental Health Centre at the Royal Mental Health Centre
I have also co-authored research with the Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Center at the University of British Columbia.
In 2021, I delivered the keynote address at the Client and Family Centred Care Virtual Conference at the Royal Mental Health Centre on the topic of Gender Diversity and Healthcare. I also regularly provide Gender Inclusivity Educational Workshops to healthcare workers, support workers and educators.
In addition to this work, I also have a background as a community activist. At Simon Fraser University I was the lead organizer of the Trans Inclusive Committee whose efforts cumulated in policy changes allowing students to utilize their names and gender on student identifications, as well as the creation of gender-inclusive washrooms on campus.
I also delivered a TEDx talk on the topic of gender-inclusive washrooms which highlighted the limited narratives we allow trans people to tell and how we can move past that ideology.
"I don’t know what it is like to not have deep emotions. Even when I feel nothing, I feel it completely."
-Sylvia Plath