LGBT Clinical and Psychological Wellne ss Across the Lifespan

Catalog description

This course presents a hands-on overview of contemporary LGBT issues across the lifespan, as seen in clinical practice. Using a developmental framework, various issues are explored in a chronological fashion, from the developing psychology of the proto-LGBT (as well as queer and questioning) child, all the way through adolescence, midlife and issues of older adulthood, unique to the LGBTQQ experience. This course is equal parts theory and process. Not only does it cover relevant developmental models and LGBT-affirmative theories, it also explores the lived experience of various LGBT issues from both a personal and clinical point of view. Key to this class is the philosophy that good treatment must include self-awareness on the part of the clinician, which enables true empathy for the client. To this end, the class includes opportunities for students to reflect on their own life experiences and the meanings they make of them. Additionally, it looks at how these issues show up in psychotherapy (both in private practice and in clinic work). Through lectures, readings, class exercises, writing and much discussion this course works to understand the multiple layers of LGBT identity and experience in cross-cultural context, and how they interact with each other, and how they evolve over the course of one’s life.