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Digital Seminar

LGBTQ+ Clients: Queer Affirmative Strategies to Address Sexual and Gender Identity


Speaker:
Aaron Testard, LMFT, LPCC
Duration:
6 Hours 23 Minutes
Language:
Presented in EN, subtitles in EN and FR, handouts in EN and FR
Copyright:
Jun 13, 2025
Product Code:
POS055155
Media Type:
Digital Seminar


Description

With the variety of terms and ideas in today’s LGBTQ+ culture, it’s easy to feel lost in the complexity of sexual and gender identity, while also feeling overwhelmed by the fear of inadvertently offending your client somehow.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Aaron Testard is here to bring you the latest research and trends in sexual and gender identity issues.

This training will give you:

  • Tools and knowledge to confidently work with clients on any part of the sexuality-gender spectrum
  • Clear strategies to comfortably engage clients around cultural norms, gender, sex, relationships, and terminology
  • A navigation map to tailor treatment approaches each step of the way in the client’s self-discovery process

Build trust and credibility with your LGBTQ+ clients by expanding your knowledge of this ever-evolving population.

Purchase today!

Credit

Program Information

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.



Canada Credit - *

NOTE: Tuition includes one free CE Certificate (participant will be able to print the certificate of completion after passing the online post-test (80% passing score) and completing the evaluation). Instructional methods will include PowerPoint, didactic lecture, and others.

Continuing Education Information:  Listed below are the continuing education credit(s) currently available for this non-interactive self-study package. Program content is reviewed periodically per accrediting board rules for currency and appropriateness for credit. Credit approvals are subject to change. Please note, your licensing board dictates whether self-study is an acceptable form of continuing education, as well as which credit types are acceptable for continuing education hours. Please refer to your licensing board's rules and regulations. If your profession is not listed, please contact your licensing board to determine your continuing education requirements and check for reciprocal approval. 
For other credit inquiries not specified below, please contact info@pesi.com or 800-844-8260 before purchase.

Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the authorized practice of your profession.  As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in accordance with and in compliance with your profession's standards.  

For Planning Committee disclosures, please see the statement above.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

 


Canada Credit - ---

Earn up to 6.25 CE hours. Please see below, for more details, as credit amounts vary by jurisdiction and profession. 


Canada Credit - Canadian Counsellors and Psychotherapists

PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association to offer continuing education for counsellors and psychotherapists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This self-study activity is approved for 6.0 credit hours.


Canada Credit - Social Workers - National ASWB ACE

PESI, Inc., #1062, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: January 27, 2023 - January 27, 2026. Social workers completing this course receive 6.25 Clinical continuing education credits.

 

Course Level: Intermediate Format: Recorded asynchronous distance. Full attendance is required; no partial credits will be offered for partial attendance.

 

Canadian Social Workers: Canadian provinces may accept activities approved by the ASWB for ongoing professional development.


Canada Credit - Canadian Psychologists

PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This program is approved for 6.0 self-study continuing education hours. Full credit statement at: www.pesi.com/cpa-statement


Canada Credit - Other Professions

This self-study activity qualifies for 6.25 continuing education clock hours as required by many national and local licensing boards and professional organizations. Save your activity advertisement and certificate of completion, and contact your own board or organization for specific requirements.


US National Boards - Addiction Counselors - NAADAC

This self-study course has been approved by PESI, Inc., as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #77553. PESI, Inc. is responsible for all aspects of their programming.

This self-study course offers 6.0 continuing education contact hours in the Legal, Ethical and Professional Development skill group. Full attendance is required; no partial credit will be awarded for partial attendance.


US National Boards - Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and Clinical Nurse Specialists – ANCC

PESI, Inc. is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Nurses completing these self-study materials will earn 6.25 contact hours. Expires: 06/20/2027.



Handouts

Speaker

Aaron Testard, LMFT, LPCC's Profile

Aaron Testard, LMFT, LPCC Related seminars and products


Aaron Testard, LMFT, LPCC, is a psychotherapist in private practice in Chicago, IL and the San Francisco Bay Area in California with over 20 years of experience. For 7 years, he served as director of clinical programs at the Pacific Center for Human Growth, an LGBTQ counseling and support center where he designed an implemented psychotherapy serves for individuals, couples, and families, 24 adult peer support groups, and an after-school youth program. He also has trained and supervised numerous interns over the years and has been an LGBTQ community mental health consultant for local clinics and organizations. Aaron has spent the majority of his career as an LGBTQ specialist. Including time as an addiction counselor, a high school counselor, and a consultant for a felon re-entry program. In his current practice, he focuses on sexual and gender identity. He works with adults, adolescents, and couples and consults with clinicians throughout the United States.

Aaron received his MA in counseling psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is a trained drama therapist, sensorimotor therapist, and practitioner of the Gottman couple’s method, EMDR, and DBT-informed client work.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Aaron Testard maintains a private practice. He receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Aaron Testard is a member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the Gaylesta, the Bay Area Open Minds; Kink and Poly Aware Therapists Association, the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counseling, and the World Professional Association of Transgender Health.


Additional Info

Program Information

Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com


Questions?

Visit our FAQ page at https://www.pesicanada.ca/faq or contact us at https://www.pesicanada.ca/contact-us.


Objectives

  1. Appraise current trends and perspectives in the LGBTQ+ community and the implications for clinical work.
  2. Build safety and trust effectively with LGBTQ clients in clinical practice.
  3. Analyse the main factors impacting treatment and the identity development process of LGBTQ+ clients.
  4. Differentiate the phases of identity development for LGBTQ+ clients to better inform treatment planning.
  5. Integrate LGBTQ+ history and knowledge into the clinical session.
  6. Apply treatment strategies to help clients in each phase of LGBTQ+ identity development.

Outline

What you Need to Know to Establish Safety, Trust, and Credibility with LGBTQ+ Clients
  • Understand LGBTQ+ history and its impact on present models of sexuality and gender
  • 2 key questions to ask during an intake session to establish safety and trust
  • Current trends in the ever-evolving dating and hook-up culture
  • Learn up-to-date terminology and genderaffirming language including SOGIE, GSM, and more!
Important Treatment Considerations
  • Trauma as a key factor for LGBTQ+ mental health
  • Covert cultural sexual abuse and other traumas
  • Gender dysphoria diagnosis – what does it mean and when to use it?
  • How attachment injury affects LGBTQ+ development
  • The phases of sexual and gender identity development

Clinical Interventions to Support Clients Through Each Phase of LGBTQ+ Identity Development


Phase 1: Pre-Coming Out and Confusion

  • Key Issues: Identify and defuse internal judgements about behaviour, thoughts, desires
  • Treatment Strategies:
    • Educate on gender and body dysphoria
    • Sexual health assessment and education
Phase 2: Comparison and Consideration
  • Key Issues: Exploration of LGBTQ+ information and overcome barriers to coming out
  • Treatment Strategies:
    • Questions that effectively address barriers and potential loss
    • Inquire and challenge without pushing beyond client readiness
    • Psychoeducational tools to help clients consider their identity
Phase 3: Tolerance and Exploration
  • Key Issues: Address shame and deeper exploration of gender and/or sexual identity
  • Treatment Strategies:
    • Help clients build their unique support system
    • Apply ACT matrix and Functional Analytic Psychotherapy principles to address shame and internalised homophobia
    • Psychoeducation and information on gender transition steps
Phase 4: Acceptance and Deepening
  • Key Issues: Support coming out/transition process and address internalised homophobia
  • Treatment Strategies:
    • Utilise WPATH Standards of Care to support clients in transitioning
    • Guided visualisations for challenging coming out situations
    • Tools to build resilience with increased visibility
Phase 5: Pride and Commitment
  • Key Issues: Validation of anger, process trauma, grief, and loss related to being LGBTQ+
  • Treatment Strategies:
    • Manage anger about oppression, teach clients the 4 roles in social change
    • Trauma-informed techniques for processing traumatic memories
    • Release pain of grief and loss through EMDR, IFS, Sensorimotor, and other techniques
Phase 6: Synthesis and Integration
  • Key Issues: Continue emotional processing and revisit earlier phases as needed
  • Treatment Strategies:
    • Address continued minority stress
    • Know when to re-engage in earlier stages of development

Target Audience

  • Counsellors
  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Psychotherapists
  • Case Managers
  • Art Therapists
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Addiction Counsellors
  • Educators
  • Nurses
  • Physicians
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

Reviews

5
4
3
2
1

Overall:      5

Total Reviews: 6

Comments

Beatrice O

"Great training!"

Diane G

"This was an excellent seminar and well-worth my time. The presenter was very knowledgeable and well-spoken. I learned a great deal and am very satisfied with the experience."

Alma A

"Thank you for providing examples for each phase of identity development discussed. Thank you for using your real life experiences. "

Sara M

"Great presenter and much needed seminar on this topic"

Yan Ling R

"excellent presentation"

Aimee L

"Presenter was outstanding. I learned A LOT in the course."

Satisfaction Guarantee
Your satisfaction is our goal and our guarantee. Concerns should be addressed to info@pesicanada.com.

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