Health at Every Size® Healthcare Provider Listing
Tamara Pincus LICSW CST
(she/her)
Psychotherapist and Sex Therapist
The Pincus Center
Alexandria,
Virginia,
United States
Contact Me:
Make an Appointment:
Sliding Scale Available
Specialties & Areas of Focus:
- Sexuality
- BDSM
- Kink
- Polyamory
- Fat Community
- Fat Activism
- Body Image
Modalities & Theoretical Lenses:
- ACT therapy
- Mindfulness
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Imago Therapy
- Sex Positive Therapy
Age Groups Served:
- Teens (13-18 years old)
- Adults (18 years old and up)
- Older Adults (65+ years old)
- Teens (13-18 years old)
- Adults (18 years old and up)
- Older Adults (65+ years old)
Additional Populations Served & Allied Groups:
- Transgender
- Non-binary
- Gay
- Bisexual
- Lesbian
- Polyamorous
- LGBTQIA+
Languages Services Offered In:
- English
- English
My Philosophy of Care
My practice is devoted to providing inclusive and compassionate mental health treatment, and sexuality education for a wide variety of people. I specialize in working with people of size, LGBTQIA populations, ethically non-monogamous people and people into BDSM. I start with a foundation of acceptance and compassion and work with clients to better understand themselves, their bodies, their relationships and their sexuality through that lens. I help clients to to access pleasure and joy as well as better mental health and relationships. I work hard to make my space safe, accessible and welcoming.
About Me & My Practice
I have been in private practice since 2011 doing psychotherapy. I work from a size acceptance and fat activist approach and my practice has begun doing sex education in addition to sex therapy adding classes on fat dating, fat sexuality, etc. We are seeking to build a fat positive community so that we don’t have to be so isolated. I first found HAES® around 10 years ago and since then I have been working on accepting myself and helping others through my practice to build acceptance and compassion around their bodies.
As far as medical fatphobia I have continued to push back on the idea of using weight loss as a mental health intervention and have constantly advocated size acceptance and changing of language around fat clients. I also advocate for myself in medical spaces including but not limited to: hiding the doctor’s BMI chart while they’re out of the room, refusing to be weighed, filing a formal complaint with Kaiser around their insistence that weight be recorded on all post visit paperwork, sending articles on medical fatphobia to my doctors, and giving them ongoing information about how their behavior is harming me during and after medical visits. I’ve no doubt that my medical providers are fed up with me but I’m not sorry. In addition to encouraging clients to advocate for themselves I will offer to consult with their medical team about their care and give referrals to medical advocates if they need someone to come to appointments with them.
As far as medical fatphobia I have continued to push back on the idea of using weight loss as a mental health intervention and have constantly advocated size acceptance and changing of language around fat clients. I also advocate for myself in medical spaces including but not limited to: hiding the doctor’s BMI chart while they’re out of the room, refusing to be weighed, filing a formal complaint with Kaiser around their insistence that weight be recorded on all post visit paperwork, sending articles on medical fatphobia to my doctors, and giving them ongoing information about how their behavior is harming me during and after medical visits. I’ve no doubt that my medical providers are fed up with me but I’m not sorry. In addition to encouraging clients to advocate for themselves I will offer to consult with their medical team about their care and give referrals to medical advocates if they need someone to come to appointments with them.
Accessibility Considerations
The VA office is wheelchair accessible with seating rated for high weights though it can be low down for people with knee issues. Much of the therapy, coaching and education we do is online so that should make things easy for most.