Owen Karcher, MA, LPC and Chelsea O’Neil Karcher, MA, LPC-IT co-founded the Center for Community Healing to provide high-quality therapy to people with marginalized or misunderstood identities. They specialize in working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning clients of all ages.

Since opening its doors on the west side of Madison in 2017, the Center for Community Healing has been successful at evolving and changing to stay current and informed about best practices for serving LGBTQ people, particularly transgender and gender non-conforming clients across the lifespan. 

“We have clients travel from all over Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois to meet with us because they do not feel like they are able to access what they need in their area. We provide highly specialized and culturally informed services that help LGBTQ people of all identities feel supported, valued, and resourced. We provide services in both English and Spanish and are dedicated to doing whatever we can to center social justice in our work,” said co-founder and art therapist Chelsea O’Neil Karcher.

The Center for Community Healing works collaboratively with local providers and national organizations to assess the needs of LGBTQ people and provide mental health care, case management, and consultation for organizations interested in building their skills and expanding their services to be more accessible to queer and transgender clients. Clients ages 5 and up come to the Center for individual, family, and relationship counseling. All services are on a sliding scale. 95% of their clients identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Queer, with 90% identifying as transgender or gender non-conforming and 45% people of color.

Co-founder and art therapist Owen Karcher says, “This year we received grants from the Trans Justice Funding Project and Public Health Madison & Dane County which helped us provide counseling and gender affirmation hormone and surgery consultations at a significantly reduced rate for low-income transgender people. Many of these clients also have disabilities, are undocumented immigrants, or identify as people of color who face additional challenges in our community. These collaborations made it possible for us to provide vital services and provide access to opportunities many people would not normally not have.”

Owen is also one of the co-founders of the Wisconsin Transgender Health Coalition and received Outreach Wisconsin’s LGBT Advocate of the Year award in 2016. He and his partner Chelsea collaborate frequently with nonprofits, universities, and corporations to educate and empower employees to make more LGBTQ affirming policies and procedures.

For more information, please visit the Center for Community Healing online at www.arttherapymadison.com
Contact Info:
Chelsea O’Neil Karcher, [email protected], 608-301-6167
Center for Community Healing, LLC: Art Therapy & Counseling for LGBTQ People of All Ages
568 Grand Canyon Drive, Madison, WI, 53719