Presenter Name and Credentials: Dr. M Watson Saltis, PhD, LPC, NCC, RPT, ACS
Dr. Watson Saltis is a queer, nonbinary, neurodivergent (ADHD), and mostly able-bodied counselor who also benefits from white-bodied supremacy and a middle-class social location. Dr. M has their PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Northern Colorado, their Masters of Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Syracuse University, and is a Registered Play Therapist, National Certified Counselor, and Approved Clinical Supervisor. They specialize in providing therapy services to the LGBTQ population, with a specific focus on the queer, transgender and gender expansive youth populations. They have over ten years of clinical experience which also includes extensive group work. As a professor, they teach courses on multiculturalism and social justice in counseling as well as group therapy. They also provide presentations, trainings, and lectures on supporting LGBTQ clients and therapists and their allies as a guest lecturer, for therapy organizations, and through 1:1 consultation for therapists in the community. They research and publish data about the LGBTQ population, most notably about the experiences of transgender and/or gender expansive youth. Lastly, they co-own The Rainbow Circles, an entirely LGBTQ co-operative and anti-oppressive community mental health agency comprised of LGBT staff which serves the LGBTQ populations and their allies.
Rationale/Relevance to the Profession: Nearly 1 in 4 people in generation Z identify as somewhere within the queer, trans, gender expansive, or questioning communities (Lang, 2021), the most out of any generation prior. Yet, as more and more people are able to come out, there continues to exist an incredibly backlash against the queer, trans, and gender expansive communities, with last year (2022), being the worst on record for anti-trans bills being introduced and passed in the United States. Additionally, due to the cumulative and negative impacts of oppression on the mental health of queer and transgender persons, it is imperative that counselors continue to increase their competency in working with these populations. Lastly, there is anecdotally and empirically a greater need for counselors to have more training to meet the needs of the queer, trans, and gender expansive populations, since well-meaning counselors can accidentally perpetuate harmful microaggressions with clients (McCullough et al., 2017) and there continues to be an underrepresentation of trainings on these topics in counselor education programs (Salpietro et al., 2019). As such this training is deeply relevant to our profession. It is designed to align with the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies, which state the importance of beginning with counselor self-awareness for moving towards competencies in this area. Anecdotally, the presenter has attended an witnessed many trainings that accidentally perpetuate the colonialist binary framework of us/them, with trainings designed to help cishet counselors meet the needs of the ‘other’ (queer, trans, gender expansive). As a counter-narrative to some other presentations, this presentation will help counselors from all backgrounds increase competencies in working with this population, by providing an important framework from which to build in subsequent trainings.
Presentation Abstract (150 to 500 words):
This presentation is an introduction to key concepts related to supporting and affirming queer, trans, and gender expansive communities. Within this presentation, participants will learn about systems and levels of oppression, the cycle of socialization, and effects of cisheteronormativity as they apply to queer, transgender, and gender expansive populations. These applications are contextualized within the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies (Ratts et al., 2016), with support from other relevant professional competencies (e.g., ACA, 2010; ALGBTIC, 2013). Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the political, social, historical, and cultural factors that impact the queer, trans, and gender expansive communities using information from recent research in the field. Since the first phase in working towards competencies in social justice in any area starts with self-awareness (Ratts et al., 2016), this presentation will help give the attendees tools for understanding their own genders and sexual/affectional/romantic orientations, that of their potential clients and supervisees, and the intersections therein within the counseling relationship. Attendees will leave the presentation with tangible tools for self-exploration, understanding systems, and a solid foundation for which to build subsequent competencies in this area.
3 Learning Objectives:
- Attendees will learn to define and understand the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies, features of oppression, the cycle of socialization, and the effects of cisheteronormativity within the context of working with queer, trans, and/or gender expansive clients.
- Attendees will gain deeper understanding into their own socialization processes and that of clients, including ways to recognize and dismantle dominant oppressive narratives within themselves and clients.
- Attendees will be able to identity components of competency development for work with this population.
Credit Hours
5
Colorado Professional Development Hours (PDH)
0
Continuing Education Credits (CEUs)
