Pride Month CE Event

Pride Month CE Event  

"We're Queer and We've Been Here!"

Exploring Adlerian Queer Community Feelings

Being queer has been a central part to the human experience for ages and in many cultures was seen as a sacred expression, but the education about our queer ancestors is lacking in our dominant culture. Some politicians are even writing and passing laws to ban teaching about queer ancestry and to outlaw queer and trans expression in public. How did we get here and what was the cost? 

From Adlerian psychology is the concept of "community feelings." This concept explains the importance of seeing oneself in the past, present, and future. In this era, we find excitement and energy in community building in the present that has helped many queer people feel hopeful and connected with their sense of possibility in the future. However, our education systems and media often do not provide adequate representations of queer ancestry and what we do have is under attack. This presentation will showcase the importance and power of building client's Adlerian queer community feelings by learning about their queer ancestors and explore how we got to a culture that views being queer as a “minority.” This presenter proposes that Adlerian queer community feelings may be a window into understanding our client's identity development, minority stress, and minority strengths/resilience. 

Objectives:

1. Attendees will learn the basics of Adlerian "community feelings".

2. Attendees will learn how to apply Adlerian community feelings to case conceptualizations of clients who are queer. 

3. Attendees will learn ways to assess a client’s level of Adlerian queer community feelings. 

4. Attendees will learn an intervention model to support clients who are queer and in need of developing queer community feelings. 

Presenter Information:

Glen Bradley, MA, LGPC (DC), NCC, 202-922-5747‬, gestalt.glen@gmail.com 

Presenter Bio:

Glen Bradley, MA, LGPC, NCC, (they) is a mental health therapist in Washington, DC. 

Their background includes advocacy and activism for queer people, beginning during their undergraduate studies at Santa Clara University, where they worked at the LGBTQ+ student resource center. Glen was invited to the 2016 National Jesuit Student Leadership Conference, where they spoke on LGBTQ+ cultural competency issues at Catholic universities. Glen has over 10-years of experience facilitating LGBTQ+ cultural competency training seminars across a diverse field, from the DC office for the Federal Maritime Commission to the DC Mental Health Counseling Association. Glen uses a variety of theoretical lenses to inform their understanding of their clients: Queer Liberation Psychology, Gestalt Psychotherapy, Body-Process Psychotherapy, Buddhist Psychotherapy, Trauma-Focused Therapy, Adlerian Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Therapy, Eco-psychotherapy, and Narrative Therapy, among others.