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This article reviews information related to school counseling and trainings aimed at increasing professional school counselors’ awareness, knowledge, and skill related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) students. Educational concerns related to LGBTQ trainings affecting counselor training programs and counselor educators are discussed. Considerations for school counselor trainings are offered with regard to LGBTQ knowledge, awareness, and skill. Lastly, limitations regarding the extent of research on LGBTQ trainings for school counselor trainees are presented.

Play therapy is a growing area of interest and is a specific type of intervention that requires training and supervision to be implemented effectively. Play therapy continues to grow out of a need to provide effective, age appropriate, and multicultural interventions to children. In response to the heightened interest, universities are offering courses and supervision experience in play therapy. The goal of this program is to provide participants with specific ideas and materials for planning and implementing their own successful play therapy training intensive.

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School counselors are in a unique position to support LGBTQ-identified youth. However, the school setting may not provide a welcoming atmosphere for the level of support needed. How can school counselors overcome systemic challenges in order to best serve youth who are at increased risk of low academic performance, depression, selfharm, substance abuse, and suicide? This presentation will build upon skill competencies necessary for school counselors and open dialogue about how to work with challenges faced in the school system.

Counselors are legally and ethically beholden to provide affirming services to LGBTQQIA individuals. Recent laws place importance on counselor values over those of the client, impact safety of clients, and are in direct conflict with counseling ethical codes. This presentation will discuss recent laws, reactions, information, and resources

Poverty is a widely researched topic in economics. However, despite growing research on the economic lives of lesbians and gay men in the United States since the mid 1990s, very little is known about poverty in same-sex couple households. This study uses American Community Survey data from 2010 to 2014 to calculate poverty rates for households headed by different-sex versus same-sex couples. Comparing households with similar characteristics, the results show that those headed by same-sex couples are more likely to be in poverty than those headed by different-sex married couples. Despite that overall disadvantage, a decomposition of the poverty risk shows that same-sex couples are protected from poverty by their higher levels of education and labor force participation, and their lower probability of having a child in the home. Lastly, the role of gender - above and beyond sexual orientation - is clear in the greater vulnerability to poverty for lesbian couples.

This study sought to examine the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and intimate partner violence in adult committed, monogamous, same sex female relationships. Participants included lesbian or queer cisgender women, age 18 or over, who were in a current committed relationship of at least six months. Partnerships with local and national lesbian advocacy groups allowed electronic access to participants. A total of 87 participants completed the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire and the Abusive Behaviors Inventory. All participants were anonymous. The three examined variables included emotional/psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and physical abuse. These variables were entered into the Software Program for Statistical Analysis (SPSS) using correlational matrices, hierarchical regression, and one-way ANOVA analyses. Results from the data analysis will provide insight into the relationship of each variable on the presence of intimate partner violence in adult committed, monogamous, lesbian or queer cisgender relationships.

Acculturation process has been associated with various mental health outcomes among Taiwanese/Chinese international students (Wang & Mallinckrodt, 2006; Zhang & Goodson, 2011), and those who also identify as sexual orientation minority may have unique acculturation processes compared to their heterosexual counterparts (Oba & Pope, 2013; Quach, Todd, Hepp, & Mancini, 2013). Limited understanding has been established on the impact of dual cultural exposures and the multiple marginalized identities may have on international sexual orientation minority’s sexual orientation identity development, particularly for women from countries with Chinese cultural heritages. Using Consensual Qualitative Research method, this dissertation focuses on gaining understanding of the experiences of Taiwanese sexual orientation minority women (nǚ tongzhi) developing sexual orientation identity during their residence in the U.S. Results indicate the overall accepting social and political atmosphere in the U.S. was an important factor in the acculturation and enculturation processes for Taiwanese nǚ tongzhi. Yet, these women experienced acculturative stress and multiple minority stress against their multifaceted identity. They also reported acculturative stress upon re-entry to Taiwan regarding managing their identity disclosure, and experiences of pressure to conform to cultural norms related to gender and heteronormative family structure. The manuscript concludes with strengths and limitations of the present study, suggestions for future research, and clinical implications for counseling psychologists.

This thesis focuses on various topics related to transgender identity and culture. Through a combination of ethnographic and secondary research, I studied transgender coming out narratives, trans media representation, transgender performance and identity, and conceptualizations of group and chosen family in a community of trans students, the WKU Transgender and Non-Binary Student Group. The three chapters of my thesis address some of the traditional milestones of a trans person’s acculturation: coming out, constructing one’s newly discovered trans identity, and finding community. Chapter 1 explores coming out as transgender, and the way in in which coming out is valued and discussed within trans communities. Chapter 2 discusses transgender representation, and how gender presentation is contested and complicated by transfolk. Chapter 2 also addresses trans media representation, and the way in which transfolk create their own media representation in the absence of adequate and accurate trans representation in popular culture. Chapter 3 provides an in-depth analysis of the WKU Transgender and Non-Binary Student Group, discusses how the group functions as a chosen family, and explores the way in which group membership helps group members mitigate stigma and deal with trauma.