In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be...This is the inter-related structure of reality
- Martin Luther King Jr
Joseph Germano, LMSW
Supervised by Adam Kadmon, LCSW-S
Professional Profile
Joe is originally from the Midwest and completed his MSW at Indiana University. Before and during his clinical training, he worked in LGBTQ+ affirming healthcare and sexual health settings. After moving to Austin in 2021, he continued this work and deepened his focus on experiential and relational therapy.
His path into this field has been shaped by curiosity about identity, community, and the ways people heal through connection, with themselves and with others.
Specialties
Anxiety
Attachment
Boundaries
Depression
Emerging Adults
Existentialism
Experiential and Somatic Work
Grief and Loss
LGBTQ+ Issues and Intimacy
Mindfulness
PTSD
Spirituality
Insurance
Aetna
BCBS
Curative
Sana
Private Pay / Self Pay
Welcome!
Whether you’re brand new to therapy or returning to it, you’re welcome here. We can move at your pace and focus on what feels most important to you right now.
If you’re looking for a therapist who is collaborative, affirming, and interested in deeper exploration rather than just surface-level change, we may be a good fit.
Starting therapy can feel vulnerable, especially if you’ve been carrying things on your own for a long time. My goal is to create a space where you feel safe enough to be honest, curious, and fully yourself. I believe healing happens in relationships, and together we’ll move at a pace that feels supportive and grounded for you
I work especially well with adults who are:
Exploring identity, meaning, or life direction
Navigating burnout or life transitions
Part of the LGBTQ+ community
Processing emotional experiences that feel “stuck”
Interested in deeper, experiential therapy
Looking to reconnect with their body, emotions, or sense of self
Many of my clients come to therapy wanting more than coping skills; they want to understand themselves more deeply, feel more connected, and experience meaningful change.
How I Work
Therapy with me is collaborative, relational, and experiential. I see you as the expert on your own life, and my role is to help you slow down, notice what’s happening internally, and make sense of patterns that may be keeping you stuck.
Our work might include:
Exploring emotions and internal “parts”
Mindfulness and body awareness
Understanding relationship patterns
Processing identity and life experiences
Building self-trust and self-compassion
I’m influenced by approaches such as:
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
AEDP
Hakomi
Mindfulness-based therapy
Experiential and somatic work
Sessions are thoughtful and engaged, but also human. There is space for curiosity, humor, creativity, and honesty.
While I do not provide psychedelic-assisted therapy, I can support clients who are looking to integrate and make meaning of psychedelic experiences. Integration work focuses on helping you process insights, emotions, or questions that may arise after a journey and grounding them into your everyday life.
My work is grounded in an affirming, anti-oppressive framework. We’ll consider how culture, identity, and systems impact your lived experience and relationships. I aim to create a space where all parts of you are welcome.
I believe healing involves the mind, body, and relationships around us. When helpful, we may incorporate elements of movement, music, mindfulness, or other experiential tools.
As we navigate your inner world together, we will encounter both mysterious and familiar characters that can give us clues and directions to get to our destination. We will explore: which strengths are supporting you in this process and which barriers are hindering you; which skills you want to cultivate to reach your goal; and what you need to let go of, heal, or change.
Therapist Spotlight
What made you decide to become a counselor?
Our work together as psychedelic, which means “soul-manifesting” in Greek. My goal is to integrate therapy, music, and movement—mind, body, and soul. I believe we each have an inner healing intelligence, guiding us to blossom into our highest potential. Sometimes, we become stuck in this process. I want to support you in rediscovering your innate resilience. From this place, you can reclaim your freedom to live authentically.
If you could teach the world one skill or technique to improve their lives, what would it be?
Joy and healing are acts of resistance. I would teach the world to hone their imagination and to have a relationship with their inner child. Our most powerful resources often come from our superpower to imagine and be with our most playful, authentic selves. When we land in a space of authenticity, we empower others to do so as well.
Have you personally been in counseling and if so, what did you learn about yourself?
Therapy is not magic, but it feels like magic when it works. I am currently in counseling and have engaged in group therapy and psychedelic-assisted therapy as well. I have learned an immense amount (too much to list everything here) and have so much more to learn!
My first takeaway is that authentic boundaries reignite the joy of being in relationship with others. How is this possible? Boundaries build intimacy. When we enter into an authentic relationship with ourselves (known as secure attachment), we become aware of our needs in the context of each relationship we have. We can then invite others to meet us in relationship in a way that honors an appropriate amount of linkage (joining with another) and differentiation (being in our own authentic experience). Moreover, secure attachment with ourselves allows us to play with the myriad ways we can have authentic and complex relationships with each person in our lives in different contexts. In other words, boundaries invite creativity, fun, and a richer relational experience.
My next takeaway is more abstract and comes from discovering an incarnation of secure attachment with myself and how this secure attachment allows me to move through life resiliently. These resources include the dragon/serpent, and the phrase serpentine meander. During a psychedelic therapy experience, I learned that trance states (mental distress) create the illusion that we are stuck in loops and repetitive cycles. However, what is really occurring is the constant deepening of experience much like a serpent coiling and meandering into a spiral. Rather than repeating experience, the
dragon and serpentine meander revealed a felt experience and deeper truth that I am never stepping into the same river twice and have the power to alter my life trajectory.
If you could recommend one book to all your clients, what would it be?
Pete Walker’s Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving: A Guide and Map for Recovering from Childhood Trauma is a must read. He also has a new book out of a more updated version that is geared toward therapists and a website with a lot of free resources: https://pete-walker.com/
Who is your ideal client?
I enjoy working with emerging adults, LGBTQ+ individuals, the coming-out process, and relating to one's own identity.
What inspires you to help others?
An indigenous concept encapsulates why I return to the profession everyday: healing happens in community. People are beautiful mirrors, constantly revealing where we are with respect to our own journeys. What is often missed on the client side of the therapy encounter is that the therapist grows alongside you just as much, if not more, as the relationship blossoms. Thus, it is a gift to return to the healing power of relationship, as we are interconnected in powerful, sometimes ineffable ways.
How do you personally practice self-care?
I attend supervision and consultation groups in order to undo professional aloneness and continue learning. I also work other jobs that engage different dimensions of my personhood, like teaching courses at UT and cycling classes. I love to create playlists and musical experiences as well as eat food and drink oat milk cappuccinos with vanilla while spending quality time with friends.
If you are hosting a dinner party, who are the 3 people you invite and why?
If I am hosting a dinner party, I would invite my mom, dad, and brother as the versions of our inner children. Growing up we often had dinners that consisted of avoidance and missed connection. In line with the theme above of serpentine meander, I would cherish the chance to connect with one another in a way that transcends our typical patterns of protection and distancing.
How do you relate to Mindfulness? How do you incorporate it in your sessions?
My favorite therapeutic modality is Hakomi. Hakomi is a mindfulness-based somatic psychotherapy. In other words, sessions consistently train both of us to engage with golden retriever-like curiosity as we warmly and compassionately explore the present moment together. Life is an unfolding moment-to-moment miracle, thus we could mindfully explore an infinite assortment of experiences. Some
areas of mindful exploration could include sensations, imagery, impulses, memories, emotions, movement, meaning, the therapeutic relationship, etc.