LGBT: Psychological Realities and Culturally Competent Therapy with LGBT Clients and Their Families

This course is designed to educate the clinician about the diversity of sexual and gender orientation and to familiarize the clinician with the appropriate terminology when working with LGBT clients and their family members. Participants in this course will learn how stigmatization associated with a non-heterosexual sexual orientation can negatively affect the mental health and well-being of lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients, as well as familiarizing the participant with the specific realities of second-class citizenship, prejudice, discrimination, and violence.

In this introductory course, participants will, via 1 video, 4 audios and 3 articles, become well-versed in the twenty-one APA guidelines for conducting therapy with LGB clients. Participants in this course will learn about same-sex relationships and relationships where one or more members is transgendered, as well as other aspects of family structure and the unique challenges LGBT families face. Additionally, participants will learn about the challenges in life cycle development that an LGBT person faces with regard to adolescence, coupling, family development, generativity, and aging. Finally, this course will provide a brief historical overview of how homosexuality, bisexuality, and gender identity have been perceived in the mental health community, current acceptable practices, and residual impact on LGBT clients. Additional resources and references are provided for further study, but they are not part of the course.