Good Enough, Safe Enough: Affirming LGBTQ+ Clients When You're Not a Specialist
About this episode
Curt and Katie discuss how therapists can affirm LGBTQ+ clients even when they are not specialists.
Good Enough, Safe Enough: Affirming LGBTQ+ Clients When You're Not a Specialist Affirming LGBTQ+ clients when you are not a specialist: Curt Widhalm, LMFT, and Katie Vernoy, LMFT on being a good enough, safe enough therapist when you cannot refer out. Curt and Katie take on a question therapists often avoid: what do you do when an LGBTQ+ client needs care, you are not a specialist, and referring out is not possible, not safe, or not honest? In this Pride Month episode, they make the case that you can be a good enough, safe enough therapist for LGBTQ+ clients even when affirming care is not your declared specialty. Mental health deserts, narrow insurance panels, long specialist wait lists, and unsafe home environments mean referral is not always available, and sometimes referring out is closer to abandonment than care. Curt and Katie argue that scope of competence is too often used as polite cover for therapist discomfort, and that most clinical work with LGBTQ+ clients is the same work you already do well. Affirming care is the container, not a separate specialty. They also get practical about being a safe enough stopgap therapist: building a just in time consultation kit, doing…
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