Affirmative Counseling and Psychological Practice With Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Clients

by Singh, Anneliese A.; dickey, lore m.; Miville, Marie Lucia

• ISBN13: 9781433823008
• ISBN10: 1433823004
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-08-15
• Publisher: American Psychological Association

Summary

This clinical guide reviews theory-based strategies for affirmative, competent practice with transgender and gender nonconforming clients of different ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and religious backgrounds. Readers will learn how to develop collaborative, client-driven partnerships to ensure optimal therapeutic outcomes.

Less than 30% of psychologists report familiarity with transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) clients' needs. The clients, in turn, report a lack of support in their gender journeys. There is clearly a large gap in knowledge, skill, and competence in this area of practice. This clinical guide aims to fill that gap by providing mental health practitioners with an affirmative approach that emphasizes a collaborative partnership guided by client-driven goals. An expert panel of contributors teaches readers strategies for working with a diverse array of TGNC clients, including adolescents, older adults, parents, and people of color. Client factors, including sexual orientation, religious and spiritual beliefs, and traumatic experiences, are also given special attention.

Readers will learn how to address the impact of the injustices TGNC people face in everyday life, work with clients' strengths to enhance their resilience and coping skills, and advocate for their rights to obtain mental and physical health services. Readers will also learn how to negotiate complex issues, such as interdisciplinary care, ethical and legal obligations, and gender-affirming surgeries and medications. Contributors draw from evidence-based theories and APA's Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People to help readers meet the latest standards of care.

Author Biography

Anneliese A. Singh, PhD, is an associate professor at The University of Georgia and cofounder of the Georgia Safe Schools Coalition and Trans Resilience Project. Her research, practice, and advocacy have centered on the resilience of transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) people, particularly TGNC people of color and youth.

She co-led the APA Task Force developing psychological practice guidelines with TGNC clients, and she helped develop the American Counseling Association Competencies for Counseling Transgender Clients. Dr. Singh is a multiracial, South Asian, Sikh American. She identifies as gender fluid with cisgender privilege. She passionately works for and believes in justice for all sentient beings.

lore m. dickey, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Louisiana Tech University. He has recently assumed a position as assistant professor and Director of Training in the Department of Educational Psychology at Northern Arizona University.

His doctorate is in counseling psychology from the University of North Dakota, and his postdoctoral health policy fellowship was at the Morehouse School of Medicine in the Satcher Health Leadership Institute. His research has focused on understanding the transgender experience including studies on sexual identity development and non-suicidal self-injury.

Dr. dickey served as a cochair for the APA Task Force charged with developing Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People. He identifies as a White trans man with a lesbian history.

 

Table of Contents

Contributors
Preface
Introduction

1. Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity Within the TGNC Community by Sand C. Chang, Anneliese A. Singh, and Kinton Rossman
2. Affirmative Counseling With Trans/Gender-Variant People of Color by Anneliese A. Singh, Sel J. Hwahng, Sand C. Chang, and Bali White
3. TGNC-Affirmative Interdisciplinary Collaborative Care by Kelly Ducheny, Michael L. Hendricks, and Colton L. Keo-Meier
4. Ethical and Legal Concerns for Mental Health Professionals by Linda F. Campbell and Gabriel Arkles
5. Affirmative Care of TGNC Children and Adolescents by Laura Edwards-Leeper
6. Working With TGNC Primary Caregivers and Family Concerns Across the Lifespan by Sand C. Chang, Jessie R. Cohen, and Anneliese A. Singh
7. Aging and TGNC Identities: Working With Older Adults by lore m. dickey and Kyle L. Bower
8. Clinical Supervision With TGNC Clients in Health Service Psychology by Theodore R. Burnes, Stacie Fishell Rowan, and Parrish L. Paul
9. Assessment and Treatment of Trauma With TGNC Clients: A Feminist Approach by Katherine Richmond, Theodore R. Burnes, Anneliese A. Singh, and Mel Ferrara
10. Spirituality, Faith, and Religion: The TGNC Experience by Ruben A. Hopwood and Tarynn M. Witten
11. Engaging in TGNC-Affirmative Research by Jae Sevelius, lore m. dickey, and Anneliese A. Singh
12. Advocacy and Social Justice: The Next Generation of Counseling and Psychological Practice With Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Clients by lore m. dickey, Anneliese A. Singh, Sand C. Chang, and Mick Rehrig

Index
About the Editors