LGBTQ Clients: Clinical Issues and Treatment Strategies for Youth and Adults – Deb Coolhart and Joe Kort

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Are you…

• Unsure of the up-to-date terminology to use with your LGBTQ clients
• Uncomfortable talking about their sexual practices
• Questioning how to analyze transition readiness and the difficult process of coming out
• Looking for strategies to help LGBTQ youth when their parents are not supportive
• Unsure of how to help clients feel safe and overcome trauma and abuse from growing up LGBTQ

Meeting and truly understanding the needs of your Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) clients will help you avoid the most critical mistakes therapists can make.

Navigating the challenges this rapidly changing population faces requires mindful awareness, sensitivity and the willingness to explore profound differences from the dominant, heteronormative culture. It takes education, empathy and compassion to help your clients of all sexual orientations or preferences…

Here’s your opportunity to join two of today’s leading experts, Dr. Joe Kort, Ph.D., LMSW, and Dr. Deb Coolhart, Ph.D., LMFT, for an online course on current tools and up-to-date strategies for helping LGBTQ clients overcome their unique clinical issues and concerns. Drawing on their specialized experience with the LGBTQ community, Joe and Deb will equip you with the insight and education needed to improve your confidence and effectiveness in your work.

Don’t be the therapist that is losing LGBTQ clients because of poor intake, assessment and treatment planning. Join us today and begin your journey to providing a truly safe place for all of your clients to genuinely be themselves.

In this comprehensive online training, experts Joe Kort, Ph.D., LMSW, and Deb Coolhart, Ph.D., LMFT, will equip you with the training and tools you need to more effectively counsel your lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning clients — both adults and youth.

Part 1 — Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) Clients: Clinical Issues and Treatment Strategies with Joe Kort

In part 1, Joe Kort, Ph.D., LMSW, will guide you step-by-step through six modules of in-depth training to teach you his tools, strategies, and tips learned during his 32+ years of experience working with the LGBTQ community — so you can effectively navigate the unique needs of your LGBTQ clients. Here’s what’s covered in each module:

Module 1 : 

Do No Harm: Understanding Your LGBTQ Client

• Red-Flag Words: Offensive words you might use (without you knowing!)
• A Guided Imagery: How it feels to be different
• Defining gay affirmative psychotherapy
• Children – Born this way?
• Homophobia/biphobia/transphobia: Still alive and well throughout the globe
• Intake session: Identifying internalized homophobia and working through shame
• Exploring the impact of heterosexual privilege on LGBTQ clients

Module 2 : 

LGBTQ Adolescence

• Coming out issues
• It gets better but not before coming out
• Bullying and other safety issues contributing to PTSD
• Reduce harmful interactions on adult dating apps such as Grindr, Scruff, etc
• Risk assessment for substance abuse and suicidality
• Strategies for finding support

Module 3 : 

Coming Out

• Exploring stigma and its impact on mental health from childhood to adulthood
• Discussing the 6 distinct stages of coming out with interventions
• Strategies to avoid isolation and alienation during the coming out process
• Understanding fear, shame and rejection unique to this population
• Identifying relationship concerns: family, friends, school or workplace
• Finding a sense of belonging in LGBTQ community
• Understanding the harmful and dangerous effects of conversion therapy

Module 4 : 

Transgender

• Overcoming the knowledge barrier
• Avoiding outdated treatment plans
• Learning and differentiating correct terms such as gender queer, gender fluid and cisgender
• Strategies to help your client tell their partner, families, friends and employers
• Tips to discuss hormone treatments and surgical procedures
• Crucial points for transgender teens medically and psychologically

Module 5 : 

Lesbian and Gay Males

• Develop a treatment plan and goals for unique challenges of growing up lesbian or gay
• Specific terminology that is helpful and damaging in this population
• Sex and sexuality: what to know, what to ask
• Strategies to manage gender dynamics
• How internalized homophobia manifests in development
• Accurate assessment of alcohol use with this high risk population
• HIV & STI prevention strategies and risk and harm reduction
• Generational differences informing different treatment plans
• Learn specific sexual terminology to avoid alienating your client

Module 6 : 

Working with LGB and Mixed Orientation Couples and Relationships

• Dynamics of a same gendered couple including vulnerabilities and strengths
• Coming out discrepancy causing turbulence for couples
• Recognize and identify how internalized homophobia creates conflicts
• Open relationships in gay male couples
• Sexual issues and strategies on compatibility, incompatibility, frequency and satisfaction
• Specific stages of coming out as a mixed orientation couple
• Specialized treatment programs for the straight spouse
• Helping LGBTQ spouse integrate their identity into their mixed orientation relationships
• Learn how to identify which couples will succeed and which won’t

Part 2 — LGBTQ Youth: Clinical Strategies to Support Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity with Deb Coolhart

Working with LGBTQ youth and their families can be complex, requiring the balance of many seemingly opposing viewpoints. Clinician Deb Coolhart, Ph.D., LMFT, knows there is nothing more rewarding than facilitating these changes and watching families discover their own path towards understanding. In part 2, you’ll join Deb for four comprehensive modules where she shares her knowledge from 20 years of working with the LGBTQ community. Here’s what’s covered in each module:

Module 1 : 

Coming Into an LGBTQ Identity and Clinical Considerations When Working with Youth

• Identity development
• Internalized homo-bi-trans-phobia
• The decision to come out and fears in the coming out process
• Intervening in depression, shame, self-harming behaviors, and suicidality
• Addressing anxiety
• Approaching transgender compared to LGBQ
• Importance of family acceptance
• Intersections of other cultural identities

Module 2 : 

Differences within the LGBTQ Spectrum

• Lesbian Youth
  • Confronting invisibility
  • Facilitating positive self-esteem
• Gay Youth
  • Discussing gender role expectations
  • Sexual health
  • Substance use
• Bisexual Youth
  • Understanding bisexuality as a legitimate identity
  • Harmfulness of bisexual erasure
• Transgender Youth
  • Assessing need/desire for gender transition
  • Exploring options for gender expression
• Questioning Youth
  • Making space for exploration and fluidity
  • Reducing pressure to self-label

Module 3 : 

Working with Families

• Coming out and creating space for parents’ reactions and resistance
• Supporting youths’ LGBTQ identity
• Helping parents work towards increased acceptance and support
• Navigating religious beliefs
• Supporting parents’ own process of coming out
• Attending to the needs of siblings and extended family members
• Facilitating support networks

Module 4 : 

LGBTQ-Affirmative School Environments

• Importance of safe schools for youths’ well-being
• Assisting parents with school advocacy
• Coaching youth towards self-advocacy
• Dealing with bullying and mistreatment
• Considerations for transgender youth