Antioch University Los Angeles and the Lesbian and Gay Psychotherapy Association of Southern California will sponsor the LGBT-Affirmative Psychotherapy Conference.

CULVER CITY, CA, October 02, 2010 (Press-News.org) The Sixteenth Annual LGBT-Affirmative Psychotherapy Conference will be held on Sunday, October 17, 2010 at Antioch University Los Angeles, 400 Corporate Pointe, Culver City. The one-day conference will apprise psychotherapy professionals of the latest research on LGBT issues so that they might better work with their LGBT clientele.

Speaking at the conference will be Alan Downs, PhD, California licensed clinical psychologist, author of The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World, and former CEO of Michael's House, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Palm Springs, California.

The conference is designed to meet the educational needs of psychiatrists, psychologists, LCSW, MFT, MSW, interns and students of psychology. Continuing education (CE) credit, up to five hours, will be available at the conference for LCSW's and MFT's as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. CE credit will also be available for clinical psychologists, as conference co-sponsor, LAGPA, is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.

This marks the first year that the LGBT Specialization in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University Los Angeles (AULA) will co-sponsor the conference with the Lesbian and Gay Psychotherapy Association of Southern California (LAGPA). It is also the first year that the conference will be held on the campus of Antioch University Los Angeles.

"It is the LGBT Specialization's first really big conference," said Lauren Costine, PhD, associate faculty member and instructor of the LGBT Specialization in Clinical Psychology at AULA and co-coordinator of the conference.

"It's a great opportunity for us to continue to get this kind of teaching out to the MFT's and clinical psychologists," added Dr. Costine. "Although they are already practicing, they probably have very little knowledge of this style of working with LGBT folk."

The LGBT Specialization in Clinical Psychology at AULA is an innovative program designed to provide comprehensive theoretical and practical preparation for students who are training to become licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT). Founded in 2006, the LGBT Specialization is one of the first master's level programs in clinical psychology to train students to work with LGBT clients using an affirmative model.

"We are trying to teach students and the community about how to be LGBT-affirmative," said Dr. Costine, describing the LGBT Specialization's mission. "Not only are we affirming that being LGBT is wonderful and beautiful and fabulous but we are also confronting the horrific internalized self-hatred that most LGBT people have on some level from growing up in such a homophobic and heterosexist society."

Doug Sadownick, PhD, Director of the LGBT Specialization in Clinical Psychology at AULA and panel speaker at the conference added, "The LAGPA conference is one of many efforts to demonstrate the importance of LGBT-affirmative ideas, that LGBT people have these powerful tools to help them become stronger and to realize their full-potential."

"The conference will also help LGBT mental health practioners become more apprised of these ideas," continued Dr. Sadownick. "Not necessarily everybody is initiated to the details of LGBT-affirmative theory and practice. These ideas are new, they are cutting-edge."

The program at the conference will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and is open to professional and advanced students in health related fields, and so is not suitable for the general public. For more information about the conference and registration, please visit http://www.LAGPA.org. Registration deadline is October 10, 2010.

For more information regarding the LGBT Specialization in Clinical Psychology at AULA, please contact Joanna Gerber, Director of Public Relations for Antioch University Los Angeles at Jgerber@antioch.edu or at (310)578-1080 x119.