STARLING Resource Library

Queering Your Therapy Practice: Queer Theory, Narrative Therapy, and Imagining New Identities is the first practice-based book for therapists that presents queer theory and narrative therapy as praxis allies. This book features clinical vignettes from the author’s practice that bring to life the application of queer theory through the practice of narrative therapy and serve as teaching tools for the specific concepts and practices highlighted in individual, relational, and family therapy contexts.

Written by three psychologists who specialize in working with the TGNC population, this book offers interventions tailored to developmental stages and situational factors. This book provides up-to-date information on language, etiquette, and appropriate communication and conduct in treating TGNC clients, and discusses the history, cultural context, and ethical and legal issues that can arise in working with gender-diverse individuals in a clinical setting. You’ll also find information about informed consent approaches that call for a shift in the role of the mental health provider in the position of assessment and referral for the purposes of gender-affirming medical care (such as hormones, surgery, and other procedures).

Are you a mental health professional wondering how to make your office an LGBTQIA+ friendly space? Providing an inclusive space where LGBTQIA+ clients feel welcome can help them open up and feel comfortable seeking care. To help you craft an open environment where your clients can freely be themselves, this article shares five ways to create a welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ clients.

Gender pronouns are an essential part of understanding how an individual identifies and communicating with them appropriately. As a therapist, using the correct gender pronouns for your clients will elevate your practice by helping them feel both seen and heard.

As a therapist, it is critical that your TGNB clients never feel the need to defend their pronouns to you. This short article shares some key things therapists should know about gender pronouns.

A key aspect for therapists practicing affirmative psychotherapy is deconstructing heteronormativity. Angeli Luz writes in the “Lesbian Masterdoc,” “compulsory heterosexuality easily ties in with the misogyny that causes women’s sexualit[y] and…identities to be defined by our relationships with men.” (2021) Sometimes abbreviated as comphet, compulsory heterosexuality pervades even benign interactions between therapists and clients.

As affirmative therapists, our work with LGBTQIA+ clients must break down the immutable belief in compulsory heterosexuality both for their clients and themselves. This article explores the ways in which comphet erodes the therapeutic alliance, the challenges this poses to treatment, and how to begin deconstruction in your therapy practice.

Because many clinicians lack in-depth training with regards to working with gender expansive people, many clients encounter harm in session. For example, being misgendered is just one of many microaggressions that occur in therapy sessions with gender expansive clients. This article covers nine common microaggressions experienced by non-binary people in the therapy setting.

The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health captures the experiences of nearly 34,000 LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 24 across the United States, with 45% of respondents being LGBTQ youth of color and 48% being transgender or nonbinary.

These data provide critical insights into some of the unique suicide risk factors faced by LGBTQ youth, top barriers to mental health care, and the negative impacts of COVID-19 and relentless anti-transgender legislation. This research also highlights several ways in which we can all support the LGBTQ young people in our lives—and help prevent suicide.

The Affirmative Couch posts articles designed for mental health care providers who are interested in learning more about affirmative practice with marginalized communities. When LGBTQIA+-, consensually non-monogamous-, and kink-affirmative therapists share their knowledge and experiences, they assist the greater community of mental health care professionals in further supporting their own clients. Affirmative therapists working closely with sexuality-, gender-, and relationship-expansive communities well positioned to share lessons from their practices.

Fun Fact: Many of the articles above are from The Affirmative Couch!

Setting healthy boundaries is a struggle for many different kinds of people, but for queers, learning how to set healthy boundaries can sometimes feel like training for an olympic event.

Read this 5-min article by Full Spectrum Therapy to learn about 4 common boundary struggles our LGBTQ+ community often struggle with.

Parents often reject their children’s LGBTQ gender and sexuality, sometimes leading to relationship dissolution. But how LGBTQ adults maintain parent-child relationships despite parents’ LGBTQ rejection is less known. We answer this question with an empirical study of how LGBTQ adults maintain relationships with parents who reject their child’s LGBTQ identity, drawing on conflict management theories and the concept “family work,” or the work done to promote family functioning.

Read this study to learn how LGBTQ-identified adults do extensive work to maintain relationships with parents through “conflict work.”

The Multiamory Podcast (or ‘multiple kinds of love’ podcast) was created because we were tired of the same old, toxic dating advice. We offer new ideas and advice for multiple forms of love: everything from conscious monogamy to ethical polyamory and radical relationship anarchy. We combine the knowledge from our years of personal experience with the best information available and present it in a way that’s entertaining, thought-provoking, and easy to apply to your relationships. Dive right into a few of our relationship fundamentals and get to know us a little better! These episodes apply to anyone in any kind of relationship.

Poly Weekly is a podcast devoted to tales from the front of responsible non-monogamy from an inclusive, kink-friendly point of view. Every week, Minx, her cohosts and her guests discuss issues relating to communication, gender, race, sex, kink, manners, dating, family and time management, with perspectives from all around the globe.

For anyone who has ever dreamed of love, sex, and companionship beyond the limits of traditional monogamy, this groundbreaking guide navigates the infinite possibilities that open relationships can offer. Experienced ethical sluts Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy dispel myths and cover all the skills necessary to maintain a successful and responsible polyamorous lifestyle--from self-reflection and honest communication to practicing safe sex and raising a family. Individuals and their partners will learn how to discuss and honor boundaries, resolve conflicts, and to define relationships on their own terms.

An essential exploration of why and how women’s sexuality works—based on groundbreaking research and brain science—that will radically transform your sex life into one filled with confidence and joy.

Researchers have spent the last decade trying to develop a “pink pill” for women to function like Viagra does for men. So where is it? Well, for reasons this book makes crystal clear, that pill will never be the answer—but as a result of the research that’s gone into it, scientists in the last few years have learned more about how women’s sexuality works than we ever thought possible, and Come as You Are explains it all.

Shrimp Teeth is a queer, kinky, polyam platform that encourages folks to reclaim and explore their sexuality and relationships. Shrimp Teeth aims to provide accurate and accessible information for folks who are curious to learn about ENM (ethical non-monogamy) / CARS (consensually alternative relationship structures), want to understand their sexuality through BDSM philosophies, or learn to write erotica. Open-minded folks only!

Angela was forced to leave Guatemala to escape death and persecution when she was just 15 years old. When she finally arrived to the United States, she was sent to a detention center where, as a trans woman, she faced even more hardships. But her story is not uncommon. #Undocumented trans-Latinx women are often left out of the mainstream immigration narrative, despite their difficult—and sometimes fatal—experiences. Familia TQLM is doing everything it can to change that and more. Watch this video to learn more about Angela’s story and Familia's work.

A groundbreaking twentieth-century history of transgender children: Histories of the Transgender Child uncovers a previously unknown twentieth-century history when transgender children not only existed but preexisted the term transgender and its predecessors, playing a central role in the medicalization of trans people, and all sex and gender. Using a wealth of archival research from hospitals and clinics, Jules Gill-Peterson reconstructs the medicalization and racialization of children’s bodies.

Jules Gill-Peterson joins The Death Panel Podcast to discuss the anti-trans legislation passed in Arkansas this week (April 2021) and the long neglected history of trans children's self advocacy and medicalization in the 20th century.

It's a common belief that being trans is somehow a "modern" invention and there were no trans people in the ancient world. But nothing could be further from the truth. From the trans women who led the worship of an influential state cult to the trans guys who lived right under the noses of Greek and Roman society, transgender people were gender rebels in an extremely patriarchal culture.

Listen to this 1hr podcast for a deep dive into queer history in ancient Greece and Rome.

Trans identities aren’t a new thing; they have existed since at least ancient Mesopotamia around 3100 BCE. Listen to this 20min podcast for a look into the trans priests of the goddesses Inanna and Cybele, and how an oracle’s prophecy brought them to Rome to defeat Hannibal.

Liberation psychology strives to understand and address the oppressive sociopolitical structures affecting communities in order to promote their healing (Martín-Baró, 1994). Developed by the Spanish-born psychologist Ignacio Martín–Baró in 1970s El Salvador, liberation psychology tasks itself with examining contexts of oppression in order to foster critical consciousness, emancipation, and transformative action within individuals (Martín-Baró, 1994). This short article proposes three “urgent tasks” for a liberated psychology.

Silvana Espinoza Lau is a licensed family and marriage therapist in Corvallis whose practice primarily focuses on supporting BIPOC folks and individuals of other historically marginalized identities throughout Oregon who have endured the ongoing impacts of racial trauma and other systems of oppression. By drawing from a practice known as liberation psychology and adopting a structural perspective, Lau seeks to examine how her clients’ interactions with broader social structures and power dynamics in their schools, cities, work environments, etc., affect their overall well-being. Read on to learn about Silvana’s experiences and practice of liberation psychology

Liberation Psychology emphasizes ways in which emancipatory practices can be brought into the therapy room to promote healing from oppression. The therapist and client can collaborate on several exercises that centralize their experiences of oppression and attend to the tough emotions that stem from these experiences. Watch this 1-minute Youtube video to learn more about liberation psychology.

Being an affirmative psychotherapist is an important and selfless job, but when you’re so caught up in caring for others, it’s easy to overlook your own well-being. For your sake and the sake of your clients, it’s crucial to take the occasional step back to focus on your own needs. This article explores five essential self-care tips for psychotherapists and other mental health professionals to manage burnout and be their best selves.

Alicia believes that Black communities deserve what all communities deserve — to be powerful in every aspect of their lives. An innovator, strategist, organizer, and cheeseburger enthusiast, Alicia founded the Black Futures Lab to make Black communities powerful in politics. She is the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network, the Strategy & Partnerships Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and the co-founder of Supermajority. Watch this 5-minute Youtube video to learn Alicia Garza takes care of herself and practices radical self care.

Through interviews with over a dozen expert queer healers — including traditional psychologists, sex therapists, personal trainers, reiki masters and hypnotists — Them Magazine compiled a 5-minute guide for self-care during these scary times.

Although much attention is paid to self-regulation in children and adolescents because that’s when those skills are developing, it’s also important to keep self-regulation in mind for adults. Read this 30-minute article for an extensive compilation of self-regulation tips and strategies.

While self-care has gotten a bit of a bad rep, after two decades in the social work field, Nicole Steward is convinced that radical self-care is a must for anyone who works in human services. In this 1-hour episode, Nicole defines radical self-care, shares her pillars for practicing it, and explains why helpers, healers, and change makers in particular need it in order to sustain themselves.

Staci K. Haines, the founder of “Generative Somatics,” has integrated her extensive experience in both transforming individual and social trauma and in grassroots movements into uniquely powerful work that has proven to be incredibly helpful to a wide range of social justice activists, many of whom have been deeply hurt by oppression or violence. In this 1hr 10min panel, leaders from a range of cutting-edge groups, including Prentis Hemphill of Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD), and Raquel Lavina from the National Domestic Workers Alliance, share how they have been able to successfully integrate embodied transformation into their social change work.

Explore The Embodiment Institute’s collection of “Resources That Ground Us”, including videos, podcasts, and books from visionary leaders, activists, and healers. Select topics include:

• M4BL’s Healing, Health, and Resilience During COVID-19

• Connection, Boundaries, and Consent

• Healing Justice & Queer Spiritual Purpose

• There is Brilliance in These Bodies

Jamila Reddy is a lifestyle designer and transformational coach on a mission to live expansively, authentically, and joyfully — and to help others do the same.

On the Deliberate and Doing it Afraid podcast, Jamila shares stories, reflections and revelations from her journey towards her truest self and greatest life. This podcast exists to help listeners move courageously towards their purpose and passion(s), and to feel that they have a friend along the way.