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Topic: Transgender and Gender Variant People in Psychotherapy: Creating Affirming Space in a Consulting Room
Location: TPI, 2232 Carleton St., Berkeley, CA 94704
Date: Friday, October 4th 2019, 4 pm to 6 pm
Facilitator: Silvia Sandoval, LCSW & Alex Korsunskaya, LCSW
In this Dialogue on Difference, we will talk about some of the experiences of transgender and gender variant (TGV) people in psychotherapy, as well as discuss some challenges that TGV people face when trying to access mental health services. We will also explore how clients' other identities may intersect with their gender identity and how that impacts their experiences in therapy. Time will be given to exploring how therapists can create a more affirming space and examining how therapists’ sociocultural location may impact their work with this population.
Before joining Mission Neighborhood Health Center, Silvia Sandoval, LCSW was the Mental Health Director at Lyon-Martin Health Services and Women’s Community Clinic. She has been practicing professionally for the last 19 years, mostly in the nonprofit sector providing direct, clinical social work services to members of disenfranchised communities, immigrants and people of color. Silvia Sandoval has a Master’s degree in social work from the Catholic University of America and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at The Smith College School for Social Work. She is psychodynamically and relationally trained with an emphasis on social and racial justice, intersectionality, trauma and their long term impact on the mental health of individuals and communities.
Alex Korsunskaya, LCSW, is a therapist and social worker at Lyon Martin Health Services, a medical clinic in San Francisco that specializes in transgender health care. She also sees clients in private practice in Berkeley using somatic, psychodynamic, and narrative approaches. Her specialties are alternative relationships, including polyamory and BDSM/kink; women and trauma; gender identity; immigration/significant life transitions; grief and loss.
Admission is free. RSVP is required to attend as space is limited.