Gender Identity and Faith
paperback
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Helping people navigate gender identity questions today is complex and often polarized work. For clients and families who are also informed by their faith, some mental health approaches raise more questions than answers. Clinicians need a client-centered, open-ended approach that makes room for gender exploration while respecting religious identity.
Gender Identity and Faith carves out clinical space for mental health professionals to help people who wish to take seriously their gender identity, their religious identity, and the relationship between the two. Drawing from their extensive research and experience with clients, Mark Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky provide a timely, practical resource for practitioners. This book
"Integrating personhood and values is no easy feat, especially in our current cultural landscape," the authors write. Those navigating this intersection need clinicians who seek to understand their unique context and journey alongside them with empathy. This book points the way.
Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) Books explore how Christianity relates to mental health and behavioral sciences including psychology, counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy in order to equip Christian clinicians to support the well-being of their clients.
"Gender Identity and Faith delivers an accessible framework for clinicians working with individuals seeking therapy to better understand and integrate the aspects of their identity related to gender and religion/spirituality. Yarhouse and Sadusky provide specific interventions that can be used with clients, accompanied by numerous case examples to illustrate how to approach this complex topic with nuance and cultural humility. Given that many clients seeking therapy for gender-related needs also have a faith background that impacts their sense of self, this book is an essential read for all mental health providers working with gender diverse and transgender individuals."
"Too often, we who counsel and coach other persons erroneously believe our job is to offer solutions to the complex overlap of philosophy, religion, and gender identity. Using multiple worksheets, Gender Identity and Faith greatly helps religious and nonreligious counselors and coaches to come alongside the transgender-presenting client and, by offering questions, to assist the client in exploring their amazing inner worlds."
"The authors' considerable experience is informed by a deep and thorough knowledge of the psychology, biology, culture, and politics needed to protect the transgender individual. Although certainly a valuable resource for practitioners who work with conventionally religious families navigating gender identity and faith, this book is also wonderfully accessible to all."
"Gender Identity and Faith represents a sophisticated and highly competent approach to engaging a clinical niche rarely addressed with either sophistication or competence in all areas: clinical practice around the intersection of gender identity and religious concerns. The common impulse in this area is either to prioritize one area over the other (either religion or gender identity). The authors embrace an alternative client-centered approach. The text offers a practical outline of their treatment model with clear and persuasive rationales. This is not a polemical text aimed to fight in the gender identity culture wars or at presenting a theology of gender or gender identity. It is a standout resource text for Christian clinicians and other professionals who are attempting to help clients well navigate issues of personal religious faith and gender identity. It represents a best-practices example of Christian clinical and role integration in the mental health fields and is illustrated with rich case studies."
"If you serve clients seeking to honor both their deep personal faith and their gender identity questions, you'll find robust concepts and practical tools in this resource. You'll boost your competency with flexible assessments, worksheets, strategies, and case studies to help clients of all ages navigate culturally sensitive and spiritually profound questions of gender identity."
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part One: Overview of Gender Identity in Therapy
1. Religious Identity and Gender Identity in Therapy
2. Assessment
3. Discussing the Gender and Religious Identity Therapy Approach with Clients
Part Two: Therapy Postures and Gestures—Children
4. Gender Patience
5. Approaching Puberty: Answering Questions Around Puberty Blockers
Part Three: Therapy Tools—Adolescents and Adults
6. Adolescence: A Brief Overview
7. The Journey to Find "Me"
8. A Multitier Distinction
9. Identifying Scripts and Storylines
10. Chapters in One's Life
11. Sojourners and Traveling Companions
12. Unpacking Feelings
13. Where Is God?
14. Coping and Management Strategies
Part Four: Case Studies
15. Individual: The Case of Kelly
16. Couples Therapy: The Case of Ben (Bea) and Elodie
17. Individual Therapy: The Case of Rae
References
General Index