Sage 2023 GSRD 2 1 LATEST UPDATE

Sage_2023_GSRD_2_1_LATEST UPDATE Part 5: Theory and Approaches 3,500 words, currently 3612 (incl refs, excl bios) Gender, Sex and Relationship Diversity Therapy Dominic Davies & Silva Neves Overview Previously, this model might have been called Gay Affirmative Therapy. Many readers will be more familiar with the acronym LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans) applying to the group we describe. However, we prefer Gender, Sex and Relationship Diversity (GSRD) as a term that encompasses the increasing alphabet soup of LGBTIQQAA and extends it. GSRD encompasses the long-established although frequently demonised identities and practices of BDSM/Kink to the more emerging sexual identities of Digisexuality and includes a wide range of consensual and ethical forms of non-monogamous relationship styles. See our Infographic (Appendix A) for a detailed explanation. ● GSRD Therapy is an emerging pluralistic model of therapy that integrates core biopsychosocial research and theories about Gender, Sex and Relationship Diverse people. ● All therapists need to have additional training in GSRD Therapy to work ethically and improve their clinical practice. ● All the major UK mental health professional organisations now mandate additional training to eradicate the practice of Conversion ‘therapy’ for sexuality and gender diverse people. ● GSRD Therapy is rooted in social justice alongside Feminist and Black psychology. Brief History DD: When I compiled the first British textbook on working with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients in 1996, I never thought I'd contribute to creating a new therapeutic approach. In the first of what became the Pink Therapy trilogies, I shared Maylon's view: "Gay affirmative psychotherapy is not an independent system of psychotherapy. Rather it represents a special range of knowledge which challenges the traditional view that homosexual desire and fixed homosexual orientations are pathological. Gay affirmative therapy uses traditional psychotherapeutic methods but proceeds from a non-traditional perspective. This approach regards homophobia as opposed to homosexuality, as a major pathological variable in the development of certain symptomatic conditions among gay men." Maylon 1982: 26 cited in Davies & Neal, 1996: 25. But a great deal has happened over my 40 years as a therapist working with these populations. We would claim that working with Gender, Sex and Relationship Diverse (GSRD) clients is one of the most rapidly changing areas of psychology, with a plethora of research and literature on all aspects and identities in GSRD happening across the world. In earlier editions of this handbook, this chapter was placed in working with 'special populations, but the editors have moved the chapter to Theory and Approaches this time around. We feel this coming of age is appropriate, although probably not without dissenters who might argue there is nothing unique or different about working with GSRD clients. Of course, a therapist who practices cultural humility and engages their client at relational depth (Mearns & Cooper, 2017) may do good work with some GSRD clients. On the other hand, there is now a significant body of research into specific biopsychosocial aspects of each of those identities and groups that comprise GSRD. To be an effective therapist with most GSRD clients, one will need additional training. Furthermore, if you are practising in the UK, your professional membership body is likely to be a signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy v2, which states: Continues...