Lianna Cotant, Mental Health Practitioner (MFT)

About

  • Pronouns: She/her

  • Occupation and Specialty: Mental Health Practitioner

  • Location (Clinic/hospital): Brave Soul Counseling

  • Location (City): St. Paul Park, virtual appointments available as well

  • Offers Telehealth: Yes

  • Contact Information: lianna.cotant@bravesoul.org

  • Bio:

    Hi, I’m a Marriage and Family Therapy graduate student currently completing my practicum. I work with individuals, couples, and families, and I approach therapy with a deep belief that healing happens in relationships, whether that’s with others, with ourselves, or within community.

    My practice is grounded in gentle presence, curiosity, and compassion for each person’s unique experiences. I bring a broad range of life experience to the therapy room and work to create a space where all parts of you are welcome. I am gender-affirming, sex-positive, kink-affirming, and poly-affirming, and I work from a trauma-informed lens. I’m especially passionate about helping people reconnect with their bodies as a powerful part of healing.

    When people are navigating mental health concerns, systemic barriers can limit healing. I hold this awareness in my work and aim to help clients feel empowered and grounded.

    Regardless of what you’re navigating, I’m here to walk alongside you with warmth and openness. I believe we all have the capacity for growth and change when we feel safe, seen, and supported.

Approach to care

  • What does it look like for you to provide care to patients in larger bodies? How is, or isn’t, your approach different from how you care for patients in smaller bodies? If you work with children, how is or isn’t your approach different when working with children?

    No matter the size of my patients, I bring curiosity and warmth to each session. I do not assume that patients in larger bodies are accessing mental health care with the goal of discussing their weight. I work collaboratively with all patients, regardless of size, to meet their goals. I do not currently work with children.

  • What is your perspective on how weight is or is not related to health?

    While weight can influence health outcomes, it is not a reliable measure of overall health. If clients would like to discuss their weight and it's effect on their health, I am open to that discussion but do not assume that is why patients are accessing therapy. I recognize that fat phobia is tied directly to racism, capitalism, ableism and the patriarchy and work with clients to unpack the harmful societal messages we all receive about weight, race, class, gender presentation, sexuality and ability. I work from a fat liberation framework with all my clients, recognizing the harm that fat phobia and oppression has on the health of everyone, particularly those in larger bodies.

  • Finish this sentence: “Fat people are…” 

    simply people who deserve the same respect and access to care as anyone else.

  • How do you, your clinic, and the healthcare system you work in use BMI (i.e BMI cutoffs for accessing certain services, BMI on charts and printouts, etc)? Is this flexible?

    BMI is an outdated and racist health parameter. I do not use BMI in my work and encourage clients to push back against any healthcare professional who utilizes BMI.

  • If a patient declines to be weighed, how do you and/or your staff proceed?

    Weighing clients is not a part of my work.

  • If a patient declines to discuss weight loss, nutrition, and/or exercise, how do you proceed?

    Clients have full autonomy in my office. They are in charge of what and how we discuss weight loss, nutrition, exercise or access to additional health care services.

  • Do you offer weight loss as a service, and if so, how much of your practice is this? What do you do if a patient requests your assistance with losing weight?

    If a patient is interested in accessing mental health care to assist them with losing weight, I would be curious about their background and the reasons weight loss is a goal. In my practice, clients are in charge of their goals, and I would support them if their goal is to lose weight. This is never a goal I would force on a client.

  • What does the physical accessibility of your office space look like? What kinds of accommodations are present for people in larger bodies? Are there things you wish were in place that are currently not? 

    While my office is up a flight of stairs, I have flexible seating within my office, including a couch that can accommodate clients of all sizes. I also offer virtual sessions.

  • What do you do to allow fat people to feel comfortable and welcome in your office? 

    I work to ensure all clients are comfortable and welcome by providing a non judgmental space to discuss any issues the client is facing, whether that includes their weight or not.

  • If you’d like to use this space to talk about any identities (gender, race, size, sexuality, etc.) you hold and how this relates to your care, please do so. 

    I am a white, cis, queer woman, a mom, and a fierce advocate for racial justice and fat liberation. I am an intersectional feminist, anti-capitalist and constantly questioning dominant societal narratives of racism, fat phobia, homophobia, etc. I bring this work into my office and work with clients to gently question the roles these dominant narratives have in their lives and how those affect their mental health.