Out On The Couch

Conflicts with Colleagues in Clinics and Group Practice Settings

Posted: 9-6-23 | The Affirmative Couch

We’ve written previously about how to handle conflict in therapy—but what about when you are experiencing conflict within your clinic, from a peer or supervisor? Conflicts with colleagues, particularly surrounding identity, can impact an entire community if left unresolved for too long. It can also affect the reputation of your practice, or leave you [...]

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Traumatic Invalidation and its Impact on LGBTQIA+ Clients

Posted: 8-21-23 | Rachel Jones

Traumatic invalidation carries significant implications for therapists working with LGBTQIA+ clients. It is crucial to understand what traumatic invalidation is, its discernible effects on LGBTQIA+ people, and how society contributes to an invalidating environment for historically marginalized communities. For mental health professionals, understanding and addressing traumatic invalidation within the context of working with LGBTQIA+ communities [...]

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5 Supervisor “Green Flags”

Posted: 6-22-23 | Rachel Jones

As an associate or pre-licensed therapist within the LGBTQIA+ community, you will find that identifying a clinical supervisor who is supportive of your unique needs and identities is essential for professional growth and wellbeing. The supervisory relationship plays a crucial role in shaping therapist development, client outcomes, and supervisee wellness (Burkard et al., 2009). To [...]

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Managing Conflict in Affirmative Therapy

Posted: 12-7-22 | The Affirmative Couch

Relationships between therapists and clients can involve vulnerability. Exploring topics related to identity is delicate work.  Both client and therapist may be impacted by their education, knowledge, and preconceptions. Moreover, therapy often requires discomfort. None of this is news but: but managing conflict while centering your client’s experiences takes skill and experience.

Affirmative therapy requires [...]

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5 Challenges Facing the LGBTQ+ Community

Posted: 6-29-22 | Andrew Kravig

The fight for LGBTQ+ rights has come a long way, but the battle for acceptance is far from over. Therapists working with clients who are members of the LGBTQ+ community commonly see elevated rates of mental health challenges in this population, including anxiety, depression, trauma, disordered eating, and even suicidal ideation (Young & Fisher-Borne, 2018). Many [...]

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The Trauma Impact of Cancel Culture

Posted: 3-30-22 | Amelia Ortega

 

 Over the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, community relationships have shifted  to a location primarily online. The centrality and importance of technology-mediated relationships is now an established interest within the fields of social work and psychology (Trepte et al., 2017, Okdie et al., 2018) along with social and relational conflicts like cancel [...]

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Deconstructing Compulsory Heterosexuality in Psychotherapy

A key aspect for therapists practicing affirmative psychotherapy is deconstructing heteronormativity. Defined by the American Psychological Association as “the assumption that heterosexuality is the standard for defining normal sexual behavior,” heteronormativity stems from a long-standing, embedded cultural belief that traditional gender roles are unchanging and omnipotent. (2022) Taken a step further, heteronormativity becomes compulsory heterosexuality [...]

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How online self-disclosure benefits LGBTQIA+ therapists with lived experience

Posted: 2-18-22 | Teresa Theophano

Self-Disclosure and Community Building

We know that LGBTQIA+ community members are resourceful and resilient. We also know about startling disparities in the mental health of queer and trans individuals v. that of cisgender and heterosexual ones. As a queer femme clinical social worker who has spoken openly and published about my own lived experience of [...]

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5 Ways To Create a Welcoming Space for LGBTQIA+ Clients

Posted: 1-18-22 | The Affirmative Couch

Are you a mental health professional wondering how to make your office an LGBTQIA+ friendly space? Providing an inclusive space where LGBTQIA+ clients feel welcome can help them open up and feel comfortable seeking care. To help you craft an open environment where your clients can freely be themselves, here are five ways to create a welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ clients.

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Therapy with Black Gay Men addicted to meth

Posted: 8-18-21 | Jerry St. Louis, LGSW

To be a Black Gay Man with an addiction to crystal meth, is to be stuck between to worlds. This article will explore ways that psychotherapists can provide affirmative therapy with Black Gay men addicted to methamphetamines. The first two articles of this series, Affirmative Therapy: Crystal Meth in the Black Gay Community and [...]

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Defining Power for Affirmative Therapists

Posted: 8-4-21 | Melissa Dellens

Clinics, treatment centers, and group practices play an important role in the communities they serve. Power flows through every relationship from the individual dyad in treatment to a community clinic’s relationship with federal policy (Hess & Schultz, 2008).  Moreover, these dynamics can be seen as both a commodity and resource (Peterson & Zimmerman, 2004) in [...]

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Black Gay Men and Crystal Meth: My Story

Posted: 5-25-21 | Jerry St. Louis, LGSW

I am Black, gay, and a social worker. I work in a recovery center where I help individuals attain and maintain their sobriety.  I have had experience on both sides of the “social service” table, and my personal and professional experience has given me access to the elusive community of crystal meth users.

A friend [...]

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Affirmative Therapy: Crystal Meth in the Black Gay Community

Posted: 2-10-21 | Jerry St. Louis, LGSW

Crystal Meth & the Gay Community

Crystal meth has had a devastating effect on the gay community. Over the last 20 years, meth has grown into a catastrophic force, contributing to about 15% of all drug death overdoses (NIDA, 2019). Gay and bisexual men use methamphetamines at a higher rate than heterosexual men (Lea et [...]

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