Training on Sexual Identity Therapy

The Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity (ISSI) co-sponsored an all-day training on Friday, October 1, 2010. Over 70 professionals and students attended the workshop, which was led by Dr. Mark Yarhouse and held on the Regent University campus in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The morning portion focused on professional and ethical issues, drawing on recent statements and documents from various mental health organizations, as well as recent case decisions that have involved value conflicts in counseling training and practice. The segment in the early afternoon provided a research and theoretical basis for sexual identity therapy by examining models of sexual identity synthesis and milestone events in sexual identity development. This session also introduced the audience to the Sexual Identity Therapy Framework itself. The final session bridged the prior material to the practice of sexual identity therapy with a focus on (1) a three-tier distinction between attractions, orientation and identity; (2) weighted aspects of identity; (3) attributional search regarding the meaning a person makes of their attractions; and (4) congruence.