What is the significance of therapists bringing themselves to working with clients in the LGBTQ context, and how much of themselves do they inevitably bring? Lou and TI identify as queer therapists. Their discussion focuses on how this impacts their initial and subsequent contact with queer young people as clients and how this influences their encounter with parents and carers, whether queer or heteronormative.
This discussion explores the core pain of the shared queer context and the hidden sadness and shame which often drive how queer young folk engage with the world and themselves. How can this shared experience also allow for what is particular to the young person to emerge and support their story telling and meaning making? By extension, what does this mean for therapists who are not queer working with young LGBTQ identifying clients? Lou and TI propose that an intersectional approach can remedy the failings of systems that hone in on gender and/or sexuality as “the issue”.
Course Content
Organisation
The World Association for Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapy & Counseling had its genesis in the mid 1990s after person-centred theoreticians and practitioners felt there was not an adequate representation of the PCA at the First World Conference on Psychotherapy (WCP) in July 1996.
Nearly 25 years since it was officially formed, our desire remains to be an identifiable, international organization serving as a world-wide forum.
For details of the upcoming PCE 2024 Conference please visit pce2024.com
Presenter
Chair and Lead Trainer Australian Institute of Emotion Focused Therapy
Lou is a Counselling Psychologist, Emotion Focused Therapist, Clinical Supervisor and and Chair and Trainer at the Australian Institute of Emotion Focused Therapy (AIEFT) in Melbourne. In her private practice, Talking Emotions, based in South Yarra and Fitzroy in Melbourne, most of Lou’s therapeutic work is within the LGBTQ community.
