Gap in the Supervision and Training of Clinicians Who Serve LGBT Couples

Discussion Forum for a Social Work Class
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Discussion Forum for a Social Work Class
My Reflection
I found Rutter et al.’s (2010) “Couples Counseling for a Transgender-Lesbian Couple: Student Counselors’ Comfort and Discomfort with Sexuality Counseling Topics” more fascinating and discussed some of the most significant issues in the 21st century. The article makes it clear that there exists a gap in the supervision and training of clinicians who serve gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) couples. In particular, researchers claim that GLBT people seek counseling services at a higher level of over 50% than their heterosexual counterparts with a rate of 6% (Rutter, Leech, Anderson, & Saunders, 2010). Some of the issues that these groups of individuals want help with are hormone treatment, relationship issues, and gender dysphoria. Based on my observation of GLBT people, I agree with the authors that these people need more counseling services than heterosexuals. Some of them need to know how to raise children and others are discriminated against by their families due to the lack of proper understanding of what being a GLBT couple entails.
Undeniably, GLBT is a unique population, and counselors are prone to making assumptions that disregard this group of people due to their lack of proper knowledge and experience. Specifically, counselors should be aware of the problems that GLBT couples face and suggest appropriate solutions (Weir, 2018). In some instances, GLBT couples do not get proper counseling services. Some of them have cited counselors’ dissatisfaction due to their lack of proper understanding of homosexuality, therapists’ perceptions of heterosexism, and homophobia (Rutter, Leech, Anderson, & Saunders, 2010). In that case, I agree with the authors that competitive graduate training programs for counselors are required to improve their knowledge on how to handle GLBT individuals...