Hey everyone.
I am working on my masters in clinical mental health counseling, and I want to be multiculturally sensitive, including regarding the LGBTQ+ community.
I am a straight, cisgender male, and I have only had a handful of gay and trans friends/acquaintances. Multicultural awareness is certainly part of my education, but I don't believe it is close to enough. I want to hear from communities themselves, not just textbooks.
If you feel comfortable, I would really appreciate your feedback to make me a more effective counselor working with people in your demographic.
How can I best serve you?
What have you wished a past counselor could have understood?
What really pissed you off in a therapy session?
What is the most important thing for me to try to understand?
I hope this is received well. I genuinely want to be able to effectively serve all people.
I appreciate you sharing your perspective.
I am currently living in a Midwest city. Since it's a big college town, it has a mix of support and hate... The surrounding countryside is certainly intolerant. I was originally going to include that in the text body, but didn't want to make it too long.
I definitely plan on being up front about being an ally in my bio once I'm practicing. I plan on getting involved with a local LGBTQ+ youth organization downtown as well.
As for gender roles, I don't really support them. I believe in egalitarian relationships and gender fluidity.
It looks to me like you got this! I suspected as much just based on the fact that you created this post
I wish you the very best in your practice