A lot of gun owners never go back to a therapist after the first session.
Not because the therapist said something wrong, exactly. But because of the moment when firearms came up — the slight shift in tone, the follow-up questions that felt more like an interrogation than a conversation, the sense that the person across from them had already made up their mind about what gun ownership meant. That feeling is hard to shake, and for many people it becomes the reason therapy never really got off the ground.
Firearm-informed therapy is built around that problem. It’s an approach to clinical care that treats firearm ownership the way a good therapist should treat anything else about a client’s life: as something worth understanding, not something to manage away.
What It Actually Means in Practice
Most therapists receive little to no training on how to talk about firearms. So when the topic comes up — usually in the context of safety assessment — they either avoid it, or they handle it in a way that feels tone-deaf to anyone who grew up with guns or has spent years as a hunter, a sport shooter, a collector, or a veteran. The client picks up on it. Trust erodes. Sometimes they don’t come back.
A firearm-informed clinician approaches this differently. They understand enough about firearm culture to have an honest conversation without signaling alarm. They know the difference between asking about access to lethal means as a routine safety question versus treating it as an accusation. And when a client is going through a hard stretch, they know how to talk about temporary storage options — a trusted friend, a family member, a local range — in a way that feels collaborative rather than coercive.
None of that is complicated, but it requires actual training. It doesn’t happen by default.
The Suicide Prevention Piece
This matters most in a crisis. Firearms are involved in a majority of suicide deaths in the United States, and access to a lethal means during an acute suicidal crisis significantly increases risk — not because people who own guns are more likely to become suicidal, but because the window of a crisis is often short, and the outcome of an attempt depends heavily on what’s available in that window.
The clinical term for addressing this is lethal means safety counseling. It’s a voluntary conversation — not a mandate, not a report, not any kind of legal action — about reducing access to firearms during a temporary period of high risk. The goal is time. Most people who survive a suicidal crisis do not go on to die by suicide. Buying time matters.
For veterans, first responders, and active-duty military — populations with both higher rates of firearm ownership and elevated suicide risk — this conversation can be especially high-stakes. Having a clinician who can have it well is not a small thing.
Who This Is Relevant For
If you own firearms and you’ve been hesitant about therapy because you didn’t want the lecture, this is for you. If you’re a parent trying to figure out storage in a house with teenagers. If you’re a spouse who is worried about a partner and doesn’t know how to raise the topic without starting a fight. If you’re a veteran who wants a therapist who gets it — not one who treats every mention of a firearm as a crisis to manage.
This isn’t a specialty in the sense of being rare or unusual. It’s a competency. And it’s one that should be standard but usually isn’t.
Our Background in This Work
At Oak Tree, firearm-informed care isn’t an add-on. Our clinical director, Dr. Kevin Schlegel, also leads Firearm-Informed Therapy Corporation, a Colorado nonprofit focused specifically on lethal means safety training and suicide prevention for veteran and first responder communities. The clinical methodology we use comes out of that work directly. Our team has been trained on it, not just told to be culturally sensitive.
If you’re a gun owner who’s been avoiding therapy, or a family member trying to figure out how to help someone safely, we’re the right call.
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Oak Tree Behavioral Services offers firearm-informed care at our Lakewood, Centennial, and Northglenn locations. [Schedule a consultation](#) to talk with a clinician, or learn about training programs through [Firearm-Informed Therapy Corporation](#).
*If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988. The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day.*
