"Title:
Addiction in LGBTGEQIAP+ Populations: Ethical, Identity-Affirming, and Trauma-Competent Care for Substance, Behavioral, and Relational Addictions
Presenter:
Julia M. Wedemeyer, MA, LPC (OH), NCC, CTP, ISTT
Description:
LGBTGEQIAP+ individuals experience disproportionately high rates of substance use concerns, behavioral/process compulsions, and relational patterns that intersect with addiction—often shaped by minority stress, trauma exposure, identity-based threat, and systemic barriers to care. Yet, these presentations are frequently misunderstood, over-pathologized, or ethically misframed in clinical practice. This video equips counselors and helping professionals with a trauma-competent, identity-affirming, and ethically precise framework for understanding and responding to addiction-related concerns in LGBTGEQIAP+ populations. Rather than relying on one-size-fits-all addiction models, the training emphasizes context, nervous system function, agency, and structural constraint as central to accurate assessment and intervention. Learners will explore substance use, behavioral/process compulsions, and relational patterns through a lens that differentiates addiction, compulsion, trauma-shaped regulation, and survival responses, including clear guidance on when addiction frameworks are appropriate and when they are not. The video integrates minority stress theory, trauma-informed and polyvagal-informed principles, and current counseling ethics to reduce documentation harm, prevent victim-blaming, and support ethical clinical decision-making. Designed for counselors across mental health, medical, educational, and community settings, this video offers practical clinical language, case-based application, and ethical guardrails to support effective, affirming care with diverse LGBTGEQIAP+ clients.
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