LGBTQ+ Affirmative Counseling

This week’s review presents a guidebook for providing mental health “counseling in a manner that validates and advocates for those with LGBTQ+ identities.”

Posted on June 30, 2025 in Reviews of the Month

LGBTQ+ Affirmative Counseling: A Student and Practitioner Handbook

ed. by Jeffry Moe et al Cambridge, 2024
324p bibl index, 9781009342421 $120.00, 9781009342391 $39.99, 9781009342384

“LGBTQ+ Affirmative Counseling” is a must-have for the tool kit of any mental health professional wishing to truly be positioned to counsel those with gender identities outside the scope of heterosexual identity. Though some might be tempted to consider counseling all persons as “persons”, that approach minimizes the differing realities of people from diverse backgrounds and identities. The emphasis in the title, and in the chapters provided by the practitioners in this book, is on “affirmative” counseling. This entails counseling in a manner that validates and advocates for those with LGBTQ+ identities. In a time where many states are rolling back any and all diversity initiatives, where efforts are being made to “federalize” gender as either “male” or “female”, where politicians are pushing to ban transgender individuals (women in particular) from participating in the sport gender that matches their identity—the need is even greater for counseling that validates and affirms an individual’s identity. The work also takes a “lifespan” approach, recognizing that the counseling needs of all individuals can change across the lifespan.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and practitioners.
Reviewer: R. E. Osborne, Texas State University
Interdisciplinary Subject: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Studies
Subject: Social & Behavioral Sciences – Psychology
Choice Issue: Jun 2025

LGBTQ+ Affirmative Counseling

This week’s review presents a guidebook for providing mental health “counseling in a manner that validates and advocates for those with LGBTQ+ identities.”