Therapy is personal, and a connection with one’s therapist is vital to the process of overcoming traumas and achieving personal growth, said Denny Cash, the sole proprietor of locally owned Still Point Therapy.
For LGBTQ people in Jefferson City, opportunities to connect with therapists who understand them can be pretty rare.
“To my knowledge, I am the only queer-owned mental health practice here in Jefferson City,” Cash said. “I think there’s so much power in working with a provider who shares similar identities. And, you know, being able to exist in the therapy room without having to defend or explain who they are, I think there’s so much power in that.”
Cash’s practice focuses on a psychotherapy approach known as Internal Family Systems (IFS). The approach focuses on personalities as “parts” of a person, and encourages acceptance of all parts of a person to overcome trauma, according to the Australian Psychology Society.
Cash opened his practice in 2024 at the age of 31. In 2025, he won the News Tribune’s Reader’s Choice Award for “Best Therapist.” Opening a physical space for queer people to be themselves in what many would call a conservative area was an honor, Cash said.
“Aside from the little elements of uncertainty — which I think are really normal and appropriate when starting anything new — there was a great deal of excitement and really just feeling honored to be able to hold space, and even having an in-person office in my community was so important to me,” Cash said. “Having that space of stillness and being able to exist without having to explain lived identities was so central to the launch of Still Point.”
Growing up queer in the St. Louis area in the 1990s and 2000s, Cash said he didn’t have many options for LGBTQ health-care providers. He hopes to fill that gap and represent a growing number of outwardly queer people in professional spaces.
“I believe that there is a space, a therapeutic space, where every individual, despite identity, can exist and share similar identities with their provider,” he said. “Whether that be LGBTQIA+ or a heterosexual counterpart, or depending on cultural background. Working with health care providers who share similar identities, no matter what that is, I think is important.”
Young LGBTQ people are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than non-queer counterparts, according to data from the Trevor Project, a queer advocacy and support organization. One LGBTQ person age 13-24 attempts suicide every 45 seconds, according to data from 2020.
By providing safe care and personal connection to people who struggle with the same issues of ostracization and push-back from detractors, Cash hopes to curb that issue in the Capital City.
“I think it’s important to note that being queer is not the problem,” he said. “The challenges that are faced within the community often lean more into rejection, discrimination, feeling isolated, and even just lack of access to competent, affirming health care — those are the problems. Having supportive families, affirming communities and access to competent mental health care, it improves outcomes significantly.”
The Trevor Project runs an LGBTQ crisis hotline at 1-866-488-7386. A trans crisis hotline, run by transgender people for transgender people, is available at 1-877-565-8860.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Denny Cash poses in one of the counseling rooms at his westside Jefferson City office of Still Point Therapy where he provides therapy and counseling services for trauma survivors, emerging adults, individuals with ADHD and others.