LGBTQIA Affirming-Care at GGOC

The LGBTQIA umbrella covers an expansive and diverse community that cuts across all other social location intersections! Understanding your familiarity with each particular intersection and how those intersections interact with one another and show up in our clients lives is essential in being able to discern which populations you will be effective in supporting.

To start, here is a very short list of identities that you will hear referred to often in our practice.

Even though a lot of ground is covered within the "LGBTQIA+" acronym, it's important to make the distinction between gender and sexual orientation. We love this graphic from the Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER) to help explain these concepts.

It is also important to note that folks may have a different sexual and romantic attraction. For example, a person might be asexual but homoromantic. For more information on asexuality visit the Asexual Visibility and Education Network and read more about Romantic Orientations HERE.

All of this information is truly just the tip of the iceberg but a good starting point to understanding our LGBTQIA clients! Remember that the mental health industry has been problematic and harmful to these communities over the course of time so many clients may need a lot of patience in unwinding societal discrimination and persecution as well as internalized phobias. Read HRC's article on the dangers of conversion and reparative therapies HERE. This article also includes links to organizational positions on these damaging practices that are still being utilized covertly in our country.

GGOC is a CAMFT-Approved continuing education provider. CEs for any available courses are FREE for GGOC Team Members. View courses HERE and complete quizzes and course assessments for CE credits and/or certificates of completion.