October 29, 2019 | 12:00pm CDT

Why Affirmative Treatment is an Imperative Component When Helping Your LGBTQ+ Clients Achieve Long Lasting Sobriety and Emotional Recovery

With Lauren D. Costine, PhD

Living and growing up LGBTQ+ in a world that historically negates, devalues and demonizes same-sex love and gender variance is very traumatizing to the LGBTQ+ person’s sense of self. To recover from the trauma of growing up in a heterosexist world, stay sober, develop quality emotional sobriety and, therefore, get the most out of their life, LGBTQ+ people—and their support systems—need LGBTQ+-Affirmative Psychotherapy to heal.

The LGBTQ+-Affirmative approach enables LGBTQ+ mental health workers and their clients to address their addictions in order to start living a life of solid and empowering sobriety.

Upon completion of this webinar, attendees will be able to:

• Explain the critical principles of LGBTQ+-Affirmative psychotherapy and how it differs in effectiveness and sustainability from LGBTQ+-Friendly approaches.
• Name the small and big traumas their LGBTQ+ clients experience growing up in an heteronormative, homophobic, lesbianphobic, biphobic, transphobic, intersex and queerphobic world and how it affects their sobriety, recovery and emotional health.
• Describe how traditional addiction-oriented modalities (trauma-informed, motivational learning, CBT, psychodynamic, group therapy, etc) can be effectively integrated into affirmative-oriented addiction treatment so that their LGBTQ+ clients learn a more empowered understanding of their unique issues which can improve their recovery skills, emotional sobriety and sense of self.