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

Credits

Handouts/Brochure

Speaker

Deb Coolhart, PhD, LMFT Related seminars and products

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Deb Coolhart, PhD, LMFT, is a private practice clinician and an assistant professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy Department at Syracuse University. She has been doing therapy with LGBTQ youth and their families for nearly 20 years. She created the Transgender Treatment Team in Syracuse University’s Couple and Family Therapy Center, where she trains and supervises master’s students to work with transgender people and their families.

Dr. Coolhart has several publications on clinical work with LGBTQ youth. Her recent work has focused on transgender youth and their families. She has developed a tool for assessing youths’ and families’ readiness for gender transition treatments, published in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. She has also published multiple manuscripts on supporting transgender youth and families in therapy and advocating for trans-affirmative school environments. Recently, she co-authored a book, The Gender Quest Workbook: Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity. Additionally, Dr. Coolhart has conducted research on transgender people and their family relationships and the experiences of LGBTQ homeless youth.

 

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Dr. Deborah Coolhart maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with Syracuse University. She is a published author and receives royalties. Dr. Coolhart receives a speaking honorarium, book royalties, and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Non-financial: Dr. Deborah Coolhart is a member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy.

Additional Info

For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. You will have access for 90 days after the program for review.

Please note: There will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.

Visit our FAQ page at www.pesi.com/faq or contact us at www.pesi.com/info

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 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

• 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

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