Meet Leighanna Nordstrom

Relationship & Sex Therapist

Leighanna (Lay-on-uh) is a born and raised Colorado native. After a brief stint studying sports medicine at Colorado State University, she pivoted to earn her degree in Psychology. Shortly after, she obtained a Masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Northern Colorado. After graduating, she leaned into a passion studying sexual wellness and is pursuing her AASECT certification as a Sex Therapist. Outside of her therapy work, Leighanna has developed a series of workshops called The F*ing Truth, which focuses on public education on topics related to sexual health.

Leighanna believes human brains are constantly seeking reasons to protect and improve their lives. Even problem behaviors or ill-adapted patterns serve a purpose, whether they lead to desired outcomes or not. Leighanna uses the therapeutic space to identify useful behaviors, strengthening them, and bring awareness to maladaptive behaviors, ultimately supporting each individual to adapt or discard the not-so-useful behaviors. 

In the co-created therapy space, clients can count on Leighanna to see them as having the most valuable knowledge on their lives. This means she empowers her clients to take an active role in their treatment.  Doing so enhances each client’s abilities to create meaningful and lasting change in their lives.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Committed to cultural competence and social justice, Leighanna has completed advanced training in working with under-represented groups, including the LGBTQIA and poly communities.

cultural resume

  • While I am descended from hispanic heritage, I carry the privilege of passing as a white woman. I enjoy the benefits of having had access to higher education, which has afforded me career opportunities not available to all. I have the fortune of feeling at home in my body as a cisgender woman and carry passing privilege as a bisexual woman in a hetero-appearing relationship. 

  • Growing up in a mixed-race family, I have witnessed and at times experienced oppression and poverty alongside privilege and abundance. Unraveling and reauthoring the messages I received from my culture has been and will continue to be an important part of my development. 

  • Lived experiences: Due to an illness from several years ago, I am differently-abled with limited mobility, which requires me to work from home. I also come from a background that includes several significant traumatic experiences. 

  • My mental and emotional wellness has varied throughout my lifetime. I have benefitted from the support of my family and friends in my endeavors to seek services and heal when it has been needed. 

  • Land acknowledgment: I reside on the traditional territories of Cheyenne, Ocheti Sakowin, Arapaho, and Ute tribes.

  • Tremendous gratitude to The Adaway Group for first introducing our practice to the notion of a cultural resume.