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Full Course Description

The Ultimate Guide to Affirmative Care in the Modern Era: Exploring Identity and Embracing Intersectionality with LGBTQIA+ Clients through CBT, Mindfulness and More

In a diverse and rapidly changing world, where identities intersect and narratives intertwine, the journey toward providing affirmative care can feel daunting. But your continued commitment to understanding, supporting, and affirming diverse identities could save a client’s life.

When your LGBTQIA+ client is looking for relief from trauma stemming from familial rejection…is there a specific modality that will help them make more progress, quicker?

When a client comes to you hoping to explore their sexual identity…how should you facilitate a supportive and empowering environment suited for their exploration?

When your LGBTQIA+ clients encounter discrimination when trying to access adequate healthcare…are there resources or referrals you could provide?

The foundation of true affirmative care is understanding the basics of human connection and your LGBTQIA+ clients just want to feel seen, heard, and understood – maybe for the first time in their lives.

In this training, LGBTQIA+ advocate and champion, Alexa (Lexi) Mulee, LMHC, C-DBT, will take you on a journey through the modern landscape of identity, equipping you with the specialized knowledge, interventions, and evidence-based treatments you need to provide high-quality, inclusive and affirming care to all of your clients.

As a beacon of knowledge and empathy, Lexi gives a unique and intersectional perspective on affirmative care so you can gain a deeper understanding of the special needs and experiences of different members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Improve your client satisfaction, retention, and therapeutic outcomes by learning:

  • The foundations of affirmative care and how it enables clinicians to provide more effective, personalized care
  • The latest research and best practices to enhance cultural competency and create an inclusive, welcoming therapeutic setting
  • To overcome common challenges and barriers to providing affirmative care, such as: unconscious biases, lack of cultural competence, and inadequate training
  • Practical interventions and techniques to immediately apply to clinical practice

You have the power to make a huge different in the lives of your clients. Don’t let therapy be another space where an LGBTQIA+ client doesn’t feel safe and heard - purchase TODAY!

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Formulate role-play exercises to recognize unconscious biases and microaggressions.
  2. Utilize two tools to reduce shame in LGBTQIA+ clients.
  3. Analyze case studies from an intersectional lens.
  4. Choose affirming language to foster a strong therapeutic alliance with LGBTQIA+ clients.
  5. Evaluate the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in addressing the unique needs of LGBTQIA+ clients.
  6. Utilize mindfulness tools to alleviate anxiety symptoms in LGBTQIA+ clients.

Outline

Foundations of Affirmative Care: Sex, Kinks & More

  • Understand inclusive care and its impact
  • Key terms and concepts
    • Sex vs. Gender
    • Sexual orientations and the fluidity of sexuality
    • Unconventional relationships
    • The hidden world of kink communities

Cultivate Cultural Competence and Prevent Microaggressions

  • Practice role-playing techniques to better recognize unconscious biases in self and client
  • Understand microaggressions and their effect on clients
  • Cultural competence in the care of different LGBTQIA+ populations
  • Cultural humility development and utilize self-reflection skills to support mental health growth
    • “Live and let live”
    • Self-reflection exercise
    • Case studies

Essential Clinical Strategies for Affirmative Care: “Real life” Affirmative Language & Communication Techniques

  • Use affirming language with different communities, based on unique needs
    • “Real life” affirmative language examples
    • Inclusive communication and open-ended questions
  • Gender-affirming interventions and how to implement them in therapeutic practice
    • Meet clients where they are – affirm, validate, and support
    • Explore the spectrum of gender and identity
      • Allow for diversity and develop a deeper understanding of identity
    • Must-knows for referring clients to genderaffirming healthcare providers and writing letters for transgender/gender-diverse clients
      • Ethical considerations
      • Navigating the anti-LGBTQIA+ policies and bans
      • Useful coping strategies for gender dysphoria
  • Evidence-based treatments & resources for diverse populations
    • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
    • Mindfulness
    • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
    • Trauma-informed therapy
  • Common barriers to care and improve mental health access
    • Stigma & discrimination
    • Intersectional identities
    • Trauma and minority stress
    • Support clients despite discriminatory laws and policies
    • Best practices for creating safe, inclusive spaces for all clients
  • Goal setting and treatment planning
    • Empowerment through collaboration
    • Tailor interventions for unique needs, experiences and identities

Support LGBTQIA+ Clients in Therapy & Beyond

  • The effectiveness of affirmative care interventions
  • The ongoing challenges you and your clients will face
  • Offer additional support – community and resource referrals
  • Your advocacy matters!
  • Necessary future research
  • Limitations and potential risks

Target Audience

  • Counselors
  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Psychotherapists
  • Case Managers
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Addiction Counselors
  • Educators
  • Nurses
  • Physicians
  • Other Mental Health Professionals
  • Other Healthcare Professionals

Copyright : 09/13/2024

Debunking the Safety Myth: A New Framework for Healing Amidst Uncertainty

Psychotherapists often presume that most forms of deep healing can take place only after we support a client in establishing a sense of safety. However, insisting on establishing a sense of safety can be countertherapeutic and invalidating for clients who are members of marginalized groups. A reliance on feeling safe may set up an impossible expectation for our clients, namely, that they can—and should be able to—feel safe in a profoundly unsafe world. In place of the safety axiom, this workshop will propose engaging our clients, and particularly those from marginalized communities, in nurturing a sense of boundedness. I propose boundedness as a framework that is more culturally humble and allows us to support a client in sitting in the kinds of decidedly queer ambivalence, ambiguity, and uncertainty that are essential to growth, change, healing, and coming into relationship with our embodied selves.

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Articulate three (3) ways in which a discourse of safety can be countertherapeutic. 
  2. Define the concepts of “boundedness” and “bounded chaos”.
  3. Apply and deploy at least three (3) somatic, trauma-informed, and pleasure-centered techniques or interventions for building embodied awareness presented in this workshop within one's clinical practice. 

Outline

The Safety Axiom in Psychotherapy  

  • How the Safety Axiom is Embedded in Clinical Practice 

Problems with the Discourse of Safety 

The Therapeutic Situation as “Bounded Chaos”: From Safety to Boundedness 

Strategies for Nurturing Boundedness 

Tools for Building Embodied Awareness 

  • The Somatic-Imaginal 
  • Finding “yes” and “no” in the body 
  • Identifying Sensations 
  • Case Study

Target Audience

  • Addiction Counselors
  • Counselors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Nurses
  • Psychologists
  • Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 05/25/2023

LGBTQ Youth: Clinical Strategies to Support Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

A 9-year-old boy took his own life, just days after coming out to his peers as gay, due to the severe bullying he received. Sadly, he is not alone, suicide rates among LGBTQ youth are rising at an alarming pace.

As a clinician, how do you approach a sensitive topic like gender identity without offending your clients? How do you navigate the LGBTQ spectrum, with its unique terminology and challenges? How are you supposed to help an LGBTQ youth client when their parents are not on board?

You are not alone in struggling with these types of questions. Watch expert Tristan Martin, PhD, LMFT, as he draws on his many years of working with LGBTQ youth. Tristan will show you effective clinical strategies for:

  • The coming out process
  • Bullying
  • Suicide, anxiety, shame, depression, self-harming
  • Making healthy choices
  • Thriving in school
  • Developing support networks

Working with these youth and families can be complex, requiring the balance of many seemingly opposing viewpoints. As a clinician, there is nothing more rewarding than facilitating these changes and watching families discover their own path towards understanding.

Help LGBTQ kids and adolescents know that it’s their right to be themselves!

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Assess how school, family and social pressures impact the formation of an LGBTQ youth’s identity.
  2. Support the coming out process with youth clients and facilitate family interventions to create safety, support, space, and acceptance.
  3. Analyze LGBTQ youth clients’ level of risk and protective factors for developing symptoms of addiction, anxiety and depression, as well as self-harm behaviors and suicidal ideation.
  4. Assess family dynamics of the client to determine potential to work towards increased acceptance and support.
  5. Evaluate the unique clinical needs of LGBTQ youth to inform the clinician's choice of treatment interventions.
  6. Develop LGBTQ affirmative school environments with strategies for working in conjunction with school staff, administration and parents.

Outline

Create a Safe Therapeutic Space

  • Offensive words to avoid
  • Intake session: how to ask about developing identity
  • Approach transgender compared to LGBQ
  • Strategies to establish rapport and comfort
Identity Formation and Coming Out
  • Identity development
  • Internalized homo/bi/trans -phobia
  • The decision to come out
  • Strategies to overcome fear, shame, and rejection in the coming out process
  • Bullying and safety issues
Clinical Considerations and Interventions
  • Treatment strategies for
    • Depression
    • Anxiety
    • Self-harming behaviors
    • Suicidality
    • Substance abuse
    • Shame
  • Importance of family acceptance
  • Impact with other cultural identities
  • Research limitations and risks of psychotherapeutic approaches
What you Need to Know about Differences within the LGBTQ Spectrum
  • Lesbian Youth
    • Confront invisibility
    • Facilitate positive self-esteem
  • Gay Youth
    • Explore gender role expectations
    • Sexual health
    • Substance use
  • Bisexual Youth
    • Understand bisexuality as a legitimate identity
    • Harmfulness of bisexual erasure
  • Transgender Youth
    • Assess need/desire for gender transition
    • Options for gender expression
    • Puberty blocking
  • Questioning Youth
    • Make space for exploration and fluidity
    • Reduce pressure to self-label
    • Avoid mislabeling a client
Clinical Strategies for Working with Families
  • Coming out to family members
  • Parents’ reactions and resistance
    • Techniques to work with unsupportive families
  • Support youths’ LGBTQ identity
  • Practical tips to help parents and siblings work towards increased acceptance and support
  • Navigate religious beliefs
  • Facilitate support networks
LGBTQ-Affirmative School Environments
  • Tips to assist parents with school advocacy
  • Coach youth towards self-advocacy
  • Strategies to manage mistreatment
    • Cyberbullying
    • Face to face bullying

Target Audience

  • Counselors
  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Psychotherapists
  • School Guidance Counselors
  • Educators
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Occupational Therapy Assistants
  • Case Managers
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Addiction Counselors
  • Nurses
  • Speech-Language Pathologists
  • Physicians
  • Other Mental Health and Helping Professionals who Work with Children

Copyright : 12/12/2022

Caring for LGBTQ Older Adults

The number of LGBTQ+ older adults is increasing. It is estimated that by 2060 there will be 20 million. This population often faces discrimination, inadequate access to care and poor quality of life. They experience higher rates of disability, poor physical and mental health. This seminar will discuss historical perspectives and social challenges that influence LGBTQ+ older adults. Using case studies, strategies and interventions will be discussed to manage chronic medical conditions, mental health and end of life care. Practical tips for making practice changes to be inclusive will also be discussed.

Program Information

Objectives

  • Analyze the historical events and social challenges that affect care of the LGBTQ+ older adult. 
  • Differentiate the barriers of access to care for LGBTQ+ older adults. 
  • Determine strategies to provide individualized care to LGBTQ+ older adults. 
  • Identify practice implications to provide care to LGBTQ+ older adults. 

Outline

Historical perspectives 

  • Timeline of salient milestones 
  • Staying “in the closet” 
  • Current trends 

Social challenges 

  • Discrimination/Stigmatization 
  • Systemic barriers 
  • Levels of stigma 
  • Connections between religion and discrimination 

Barriers to access to care 

  • Lack of trust in providers 
  • Lack resources 
  • Lack of knowledge of healthcare providers 

Gender affirming care interventions 

  • Interview techniques 
  • Trauma informed approaches 
  • Communication best techniques 

Strategies to provide individualized care 

  • Social environmental factors; family of choice, social support 
  • Physical health factors; aging changes, chronic conditions 
  • Psychosocial factors: depression, loneliness, social isolation 
  • Specific issues: HIV, Cardiac disease, Substance abuse, End of life care decisions, Long term care, Dementia 
  • Case studies 

Practice Implications to Improve Care 

  • Clinic climate 
  • Leadership considerations 
  • Staff education 
  • LGBTQ+ friendly documents 
  • 5 A’s: approachability, acceptability, availability, affordability, and appropriateness 

Resources 

  • Terminology 
  • Organizations 
  • Websites 
  • Bibliography  

Target Audience

  • Nurse Practitioners
  • Advance Practice Registered Nurses
  • Nurses
  • Physician Assistants
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Physical Therapists
  • Speech Language Pathologists
  • Nursing Home Administrators
  • Social Workers

Copyright : 07/18/2023

Clinical Tools for Self-Injury Among LGBTQ+ People

Join Clinical Psychologist and author of The Queer Mental Health Workbook, Dr. Brendan Dunlop, to learn the unique stressors and causes of self-injury among LGBTQ+ people. Walk away feeling confident in knowing how to assess for and treat self-injurious behavior with your LGBTQ+ clients in a way where they feel seen and understood.

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Define key terms related to self-injury and its unique stressors and causes among LGBTQ+ individuals.
  2. Analyze the prevalence and risk groups associated with self-injury among LGBTQ+ individuals.
  3. Evaluate various theories, such as the Four Function Model and Cognitive-Emotional Model, to understand self-injury in the LGBTQ+ community.
  4. Apply a risk assessment approach to identify self-injurious behavior in LGBTQ+ clients.
  5. Develop strategies for working with self-injury and addressing the impact of self-injury on staff.
  6. Explore the benefits and barriers of different treatment approaches for self-injury among LGBTQ+ individuals.
  7. Apply experiential avoidance techniques to manage difficult emotions and improve emotional regulation skills in LGBTQ+ clients.

Outline

Definitions and Myth Busting

The Spectrum of Self-harm

Prevalence & Risk Groups

Theories

  • Four Function Model
  • Benefits and Barriers
  • Cognitive-Emotional Model
  • Experiential Avoidance

Functions

Example of Understanding

Risk Assessment

Working with self-harm: Impact on Staff

Working with self-harm: Self care

Target Audience

  • Counselors 
  • Social Workers
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Addiction Counselors
  • Educators 
  • Nurses 
  • Other Professions

Copyright : 04/12/2023

Readiness for Gender-Affirmative Medical Treatments: Letters of Support for Trans and Gender Expansive Youth and Adults

In this recording, view Deb Coolhart, PhD, LMFT, a clinician with over 20 years of experience working with trans and gender expansive individuals, as she provides you with all the information you need to assist youth and adult clients determine their readiness for medical gender-affirmative treatments. You’ll receive:

  • A tool for determining readiness for gender-affirmative medical treatments
  • Guidelines for writing letters of support, as well as sample letters

Any masters-level mental health provider can be qualified to support these important, sometimes life-saving treatments. So, the next time you are asked to write a letter of support for gender-affirmative treatments, you will be prepared!

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Apply gender-affirmative care strategies to clinical work with trans and gender expansive youth and adults.
  2. Utilize a tool to determine readiness for gender-affirmative medical treatments with trans and gender expansive youth and adults.
  3. Execute written letters of support for gender-affirmative medical treatments for clients.

Outline

  • Challenges/Barriers in Gender Affirming Care
    • Pervasive discrimination
    • Access to care
    • Gatekeeping
    • Importance of being a visible gender-affirmative provider
    • Prioritizing clients’ urgency
  • Model for Making Decisions About Gender-Affirmative Medical Treatments
    • Role of persistence and distress
  • Tool for Determining Readiness for Gender-Affirmative Medical Treatments
    • Assessing upcoming challenges and sources of support
    • Domains:
      • Early awareness of gender and family context
      • Parental/family attunement
      • Current gender expression
      • School context
      • Sexual/relationship development
      • Current intimate relationship(s)
      • Support
      • Future plans/expectations
  • Writing Letters of Support
    • What to include and not include
    • How to handle concerns
  • Limitations of Research and Potential Risks

Target Audience

  • Addiction Counselors
  • Counselors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Nurses
  • Psychologists
  • Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 06/30/2022

Clinical Frameworks and Applications in Working with LGBTQ+ People of Color

LGBTQ+ Clients of Color confront multiple systems of social oppression, such as racism, cissexism, and heterosexism, which results in unique, intersectional stressors and compounding stress. These experiences are thought to contribute to high rates of mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Nevertheless, LGBTQ+ Clients of Color have distinctive strengths that buffer the worst of societal oppression’s consequences. Due to bias, mental health and behavioral health settings have either neglected or ill-treated this community leading to further harm. Therefore, there remain opportunities within these environments for mental health practitioners and mental health systems to alleviate these toxic stressors and leverage LGBTQ+ Clients of Color’s strengths to improve mental health outcomes. During this workshop, Hayden Dawes demonstrates how practitioners can identify these stressors while bolstering the client’s inner resources. The workshop will focus on key frameworks such as intersectionality and cultural humility with an overview of transdiagnostic dimensions and applications in working with LGBTQ+ People of Color.  

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Apply theoretical frameworks and practice their associated applications in improving the working alliance in clinical treatment with LGBTQ+ people of color.  
  2. Analyze and distinguish how LGBTQ+’s life experiences are similar and dissimilar to stressors experienced by LGBTQ+ White people and non-LGBTQ+ people of color.   
  3. Evaluate personal biases that may impede relational processes with LGBTQ+ people of color in mental health and behavioral health treatment.  
     

Outline

Importance of racial identity to understanding sexual and gender orientation  

  • How to create an atmosphere of cultural humility during the therapeutic process  
  • Limitations of Research and Potential Risks 
  • Ways to consider one’s personal bias in their clinical practice  

Target Audience

  • Addiction Counselors
  • Counselors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Nurses
  • Psychologists
  • Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 05/25/2023

Disability, Gender and Sexuality 

Disabled people constitute 15% of the population globally and 26% of adults within the United States alone. Despite being one of the largest minoritized groups, disabled people are often overlooked and underserved within the field of mental health, given that ableism and sanism are ubiquitous in clinical practice. Disabled LGBTQ+ people are no exception. In this presentation, Dr. Iantaffi will provide a brief overview of the issues impacting disabled LGBTQ+ clients and clinicians and use the Disability Justice framework to offer some guiding principles that clinicians can apply to their own practice.

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Determine how ableism impacts their LGBTQ+ clients; 
  2. Appraise their clinical practices for inclusivity when working with disabled LGBTQ+ clients;
  3. Employ interventions rooted in Disability Justice principles. 

Outline

Understanding models of disability 

  • Defining disability 
  • Historical theoretical models of disability (medical, social, feminist) 
  • The intersection of disability, gender and sexuality 

What are ableism and sanism? 

  • Ableism’s impact on LGBTQ+ clients 
  • How ableism is ubiquitous in clinical training and practice 
  • The tension between sanism and mental health practices 

The intersection of disability and LGBTQ+ issues 

  • Issues impacting disabled LGBTQ+ clients and therapists 
  • Impact of infantilization and desexualization of disabled LGBTQ+ clients 
  • Clinical vignettes  

Disability Justice Principles 

  • What is Disability Justice 
  • Ten Principles of Disability Justice 
  • Clinical application of three disability justice principles 
  • Invitation to identify three changes needed in clinical practice and/or training 

Target Audience

  • Addiction Counselors
  • Counselors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Nurses
  • Psychologists
  • Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 05/24/2023

BIPOC LGBTQIA+ Clients and the Intersection of Spirituality, Religion and Emotional Wellness: Integrating Internal Family Systems Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, and Brainspotting in Clinical Practice

BIPOC LGBTQIA+ clients often find that their spirituality is the only thing that keeps them connected to a community that marginalizes them for being a person of color and someone that identifies as LGBTQIA+.  Working with clients from the intersection of spirituality, religion and emotional wellness for the BIPOC LGBTQIA+ community can be tricky. Often clinicians use personal religious beliefs and/or spiritual tenets that may pathologize a client's sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identification and/or sexual preference. Because of this possible issue, clients are placed in a situation that harms verses providing healing for the presenting issue(s) at hand.

With the use of Internal Family System (IFS) therapy, Brainspotting, EMDR, and Somatic Experiencing (SE), you’ll be offered a way to hold on to your personal beliefs without imposing them on their clients. Using multiplicity of self, understanding the use of SELF energy, accessing critical mass of self during sessions and working through the “healing steps” of the modalities of choice for this population!

This product is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the IFS Institute and does not qualify for IFS Institute credits or certification. 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Apply the understanding of the intersection between religion, spirituality and emotional wellness among the BIPOC LGBTQIA community when working with clients.
  2. Assess the importance of context of the spiritual thought or religious thought while in session with BIPOC LGBQTIA client.
  3. Utilize techniques from IFS, SE, and Brainspotting to avoid or limit pathologizing your client.
  4. Design IFS, SE, and Brainspotting treatment plans that limit countertransference or transference regarding personal views regarding sexuality and LGBTQIA community as it relates to spirituality belief, religious thought, and emotional wellness.

Outline

  • Intersectionality and What it Has to do with Spirituality, Religion and Emotional Wellness in BIPOC Clients
    • Utilize intersectionality in clinical settings
    • Distinguish spirituality from religion
    • Investigate how both play into emotional wellness for the BIPOC LGBTQIA community
       
  • How Spirituality and Religion Pathologize BIPOC LGBTQIA Clients When Used Out of Context
    • BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities and how each affects emotional wellness
    • Analyze pathologizing BIPOC; LGBTQIA; and BIPOC LGBTQIA
    • Pitfalls of using spiritual and religious teachings out of context
       
  • How to Access Context for Use of Spirituality and Religious Thought in Therapy Sessions
    • Theorize the application of the Afrocentric Paradigm to practice with BIPOC LGBTQIA individuals as it relates to resources that are clinical in nature that incorporate Spirituality, Sexual orientation and BIPOC understanding
    • Spiritual assessment modifications that focused on BIPOC LGBTQIA clients
    • Clinically aligned spiritual references that have no agenda toward BIPOC LGBTQIA individuals/community
       
  • Therapeutic Models Used In Practice for Spirituality Work With BIPOC LGBTQIA Community
    • Introduction of Internal Family Systems, Brainspotting, EMDR and SE as modalities of choice
    • How attunement is used with each model to support spirituality in BIPOC LGBTQIA community
    • Limitations of Research and Potential Risks

Target Audience

  • Addiction Counselors
  • Counselors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Nurses
  • Psychologists
  • Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 06/29/2022