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Digital Seminar

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


Faculty:
Deborah Anne Coolhart, PhD, LMFT
Duration:
6 Hours 07 Minutes
Copyright:
Nov 14, 2023
Product Code:
POS051240
Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Access:
Never expires.


Description

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 and author, Deb Coolhart, PhD, LMFT as she draws on her nearly 20 years of working with LGBTQ youth. Deb 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!

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.



CPD

PESI Australia, in collaboration with PESI in the USA, offers quality online continuing professional development events from the leaders in the field at a standard recognized by professional associations including psychology, social work, occupational therapy, alcohol and drug professionals, counselling and psychotherapy. On completion of the training, a Professional Development Certificate is issued after the individual has answered and submitted a quiz and course evaluation. This program is worth 6.25 hours CPD for points calculation by your association.



Handouts

Faculty

Deborah Anne Coolhart, PhD, LMFT's Profile

Deborah Anne Coolhart, PhD, LMFT Related seminars and products


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

Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

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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 behaviours 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 behaviours
    • 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

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

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