Gender Affirmative Therapy: Intake with Jemma

Scenario

Jemma Walker, a new client, wants to talk about the death of their mother. Prior to the session, Jemma completed the standard intake form, but did not answer the questions identifying their gender or pronouns. Learners will complete an intake session with Jemma to understand their concerns, the reason for coming to therapy, and therapeutic goals. During the session, learners will have the ability to explore topics such as, self-reference (e.g., name and pronouns), gender-identity and gender expression, social and physical transformation, family (i.e., family of origin and chosen family), relationships, race/ethnicity, sexuality, and other intersecting identities.

It's crucial for mental health providers to acknowledge and understand the distinctive needs of individuals within diverse populations. Regrettably, a significant number of transgender and nonbinary individuals share unfavorable experiences in therapy due to a lack of knowledge among providers.

To tackle these concerns, we designed this training with a diverse development team (i.e., Key Personnel, Expert Panels, Actors, Script Engineers, Focus Groups, and Community Partners), ensuring representation from individuals with diverse minorities identities, including transgender and nonbinary individuals and people of color. Our training is designed to empower providers, enhance their skills, and boost confidence in delivering gender-affirming culturally competent care. This ultimately fosters safe and trusting environments, enabling gender minorities to feel at ease and validated when sharing their experiences.

Teaching Objectives:

• Creating a Safe and Trusting Environment
• Demonstrating Cultural Competency
• Creating Opportunities for Clients to Share Gender
• Validating a Client’s Identity and Experiences
• Reduce Power Dynamics (i.e., inherent in therapy and associated with gatekeeping)

Included in Training:

• A Training Guide with information on gender affirming care and working with clients in a respectful manner that positions them to achieve their best outcomes when starting therapy.
• A Simulated Conversation with a varied character to prepare learners for clients with variations in gender identity and social dynamics.
• Comprehensive Feedback during and after each play to help guide skill development.

This training was developed in collaboration with Towson University and with funding from The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) (Grant Number: #R44MD014112).

This training can be purchased as a part of the Gender Affirmative Therapy Training Suite. Please Contact Us for more information on pricing.

Research

Humm, L. B., Steacy, C., Elkins, J., Sailer, C., Olsen, D., Kukucka, J., Schmidt, C.K., & Galupo, M.P. (2020, August). Community partners develop practice simulations to train gender-affirmative therapy skills [Poster session]. American Psychological Association.