Handbook of LGBTQ-Affirmative Couple and Family Therapy

Rebecca Harvey, PhD, is Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut. She has been proudly queering family therapy practice, supervision, and training for over 25 years. Dr. Harvey is co-author of the book Nurturing Queer Youth: Family Therapy Transformed.Megan J. Murphy, PhD, is Professor and Director of the Couple and Family Therapy Program at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond, Indiana. She is co-editor with Dr. Lorna Hecker of Ethics and Professional Issues in Couple and Family Therapy (2nd edition). Jerry J. Bigner, PhD, was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University, and was the editor of the Journal of GLBT Family Studies. He has had over 50 research publications and 20 chapters in texts relating to parent-child relations as well as gay and lesbian family issues.Joseph L. Wetchler, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Marriage and Family Therapy at Purdue University Northwest. He formerly served as Editor of the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy and as Associate Editor of the Journal of GLBT Family Studies.

This Handbook is a tour de force of best thought and practice for affirmative therapy now as well as a story of how much has changed and how much still must, not just for LGBTQ couples and their families but for humanity. The Editors and authors grapple with the complexities that layer lives courageously lived within evolving densities of oppressions. The through lines of the clinically and conceptually sound chapters are a critique of heteronormativity, the importance of an intersectional analysis and the imperative of social justice for all. I highly recommend this wise and deeply felt book.- Kaethe Weingarten, Ph.D.; Director, the Witness to Witness ProgramSocial justice meets psychotherapy in this timely innovative book. These diverse authors demonstrate how to identify and transform oppressive narratives about race, gender and sexuality interwoven not only in LGBTQ couple and family life but in training and supervision practices. The breath of content includes often neglected topics for LGBTQ clients such as sex therapy, elders, spirituality, and divorce. It is time to queer the field of couple and family therapy for clients of all races, gender, and sexual experiences. This book leads the way.- Suzanne Iasenza, PhD.; author of Transforming sexual narratives: A relational approach to sex therapyThis comprehensive text should be required reading for every family therapist, psychologist, social worker, counsellor, and other mental health worker. It is superbly written, conveying complex ideas in a clear, thoughtful, practical and useful way. The book is a pleasure to read. It lays out a transformational perspective on the many complexities of LGBTQ families. The authors and editors share, as they say, an impatience with artifice and a love for the aspirational. Indeed they do. But beyond that, they provide an excellent roadmap for considering or more appropriately reconsidering all the families we see. They offer an expansive contextual perspective on intersectionality, resilience, and support from "outside the margins," with excellent case examples, thoughtful and practical clinical suggestions and a hopeful, resilience-focused orientation toward even the most complex and difficult case situations. - Monica McGoldrick, MSW, PhD (h.c.); Director, Multicultural Family Institute; Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, RWJ Medical School, Rutgers UniversityThe Handbook does full justice to the enormous diversity within the LGBTQ community. Each chapter is an eye-opening and rewarding reading experience. The book abounds with specific treatment guidelines and clinical case examples for practitioners. An impressive achievement!- Robert-Jay Green, PhD; Distinguished Professor Emeritus, California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University

• Section 1: Foundations of LGBTQ Affirmative Therapy 1. Evolution of LGBTQ Affirmative Couple and Family Therapy 2. Intercultural Issues in LGBTQ+ Couple and Family Therapy: Supporting Empowerment and Resilience at the Intersection of Identities 3. Heteronormativity and Ethics in the Treatment of LGBTQ Clients Section 2: Working with Couples 4. We Cannot Change What We Cannot Name for Ourselves: Integrating Attachment Theory into Couple Therapy with Gay Men 5. Illuminating Strengths: Multiracial Feminist Couple Therapy with Queer Women 6. "There’s a Lot We Don’t Understand About Each Other:" Centering Bisexual Partners in Couple Therapy 7. Therapists’ Accountability and Engagement with Transgender and Nonbinary Couples 8. Affirming Diversity and Targeting Pleasure: Sex Therapy for Gay Male Couples 9. "I Could Never See You and Now I Dare Not Touch You:" Sex Therapy with Lesbian Couples 10. Sexuality and Desire Landscapes in Transgender, Nonbinary, and Genderqueer Relationships 11. Therapeutic Considerations in Same-Sex Divorce and Relationship Dissolution Section 3: Family and Identity Considerations 12. Invisible Humans: Identity Development and Visibility Management in Gender, Sexual, Erotic, and Relational Diversity 13. I Have Too Many Mothers: Queer Families Raising Children 14. Affirming Queerness: Raising Happy, Healthy Children 15. Gender Affirmative Therapy with Trans and Gender Expansive (TGE) Youth and Families: Listening to Youth and Thoughtfully Following Their Lead 16. Helping LGBTQ Stepfamilies Meet Their Challenges 17. "I Will Always Come Home to You:" Affirmative Therapy with Clients Practicing Consensual Non-Monogamy Section 4: Special Issues 18. "I Didn’t Know I Had a Right to Exist:" Queer Elders and Family Therapy 19. Where Should We Go To Church? Or Should We Even Bother: Spirituality and Religion and LGB Couples' Therapy 20. Treatment of Partner Violence in Sexual and Gender Minority Couples 21. Treating LGBT Couples Experiencing Substance Use Disorders: Trauma-Informed and Affirmative Therapy Approaches 22. Rewrite the Script: A Call for More Queer and Inclusive Couple Enrichment Programs Section 5: Training Issues 23. "Why Can’t We Just Learn About Normal Couples?" LGBQ Affirmative Training Strategies for CFT Faculty and Programs 24. Self-Disclosure: Considerations for Therapy and Supervision 25. Recovery From Sexual Orientation Change Efforts: Affirming the Intersections of Marginalized Identities Among Survivors 26. Getting Personal: Queer Supervision