Rainbow Teens: Clinical and Ethical Considerations for Treating LGBTQ+ Youth

6 CEs for in Ethics & Law

Studies show that LGBTQ+ teens are significantly more likely than peers to experience depression, anxiety, substance-related problems, and suicidal thoughts. They’re also more likely to engage in self-harming behaviors, experience trauma, become homelessness, and under-perform in school settings.

Despite these well documented concerns, mental health professionals often feel poorly prepared to provide quality care when meeting with this population. This workshop will provide an interactive, non-judgmental space to explore clinical and ethical considerations when meeting with LGBTQ+ teens.

We’ll start the day by increasing our knowledge related to LGBTQ+ teens. We’ll review current vocabulary and relevant statistics, expand our understanding of issues specific to trans and gender non-conforming youth, and consider the impact of minority stress on this population.

Next, we’ll explore the role of cultural competency when working with LGBTQ+ teens, examine our personal perspectives on gender and sexual orientation, and consider the difference between being an LGBTQ-friendly therapist and an affirming one.

With this important foundational information in place, we’ll then shift our focus to increasing our effectiveness when meeting with LGBTQ+ teens. Key clinical skills covered will include fostering resilience as an antidote to minority stress, building therapeutic alliance, the importance of being trauma informed, and ideas for working with families.

Since we’ll be considering a variety of relevant ethical considerations, this training provides 6 ethics-specific continuing education hours.

EPDC CE Hours: 6

Presenter: Emily Hughes LMFT, SUDP, CMHS

Emily is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Substance Use Disorder Professional and a clinical supervisor with the state of Washington. Emily has a private practice that is telehealth based with an office in South King County. She sees adults, teens and couples. Emily has also been involved in training and teaching and has done so with NW ATTC, the Washington Mental Health Counselor’s Association, City University of Seattle and she has been a guest speaking at a variety of schools in the greater Seattle area. Throughout her career she has worked in crisis management and stabilization primarily with youth and young adults. This work was done in a community based mental health agency, as the lead for a crisis outreach team and as a mental health evaluator at Seattle Children’s Hospital emergency room. In her work with clients, her areas of expertise include working with teens, young adults, adults and couples in life transition and mood-related disorders, and around self-harm/suicide assessment, prevention, intervention, and management, the intersection of co-occurring disorders and in clinical supervision.